Boykins celebrates a made three pointer late in the game at the Pepsi Center.

ESPN Boxscore

Web: Boykins outscores Jazz starters (ESPN.com)

Next up: Denver at Minnesota, Wed @ 6:00MT

Boykins outscores Jazz starters by himself

Jazz starting 5 -- 19 points.

Earl Boykins back-up PG -- 20 points.

Jazz stars Kirlenko and Boozer were non-factors, and without decent games by Okur, Harpring, and Raja Bell, this game could have been extremely ugly for them. But enough about the dreaded Jazz, this is about the Nuggets taking revenge for the first two match-ups between these teams this year, and bringing a dominating defensive effort, along with an improving running game to bring another big win home.

Great defensive effort got the Nuggets off to a 19-5 start, which ended up being 23-14 at the end of the 1st. The team defense and defensive energy was great during the entire 1st, and Marcus Camby was a big part of it getting several of his blocks, with 7 total for the game.

Carmelo Anthony led the Nuggets in scoring with an efficient game - 25 points, on 50+% shooting and 8-9 free throws. He also added 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. Boykins, as mentioned has 20 points on 8-17 shooting. Miller ran the offense with 10 assists.

Two humorous events during this game, that you probably won't read about elsewhere:

1. Early in the game, it became apparent that Melo was playing with his shorts on backwards. He kept pulling them back up and you could see the drawstring flopping around behind him. When Miller led him just a little too much on the fastbreak, he took the opportunity to fix his shorts, right there on the baseline before the Jazz took the ball out of bounds. Those long jerseys that players wear work out well, as you really couldn't see anything. It did make Sportscenter tonight, and there were lots of smiles and cheering from the fans and Melo's teammates during his quick change!
   
2. In the 3rd quarter, Boykins picked up a loose ball after a Utah turn-over. No Jazz players were nearby... just Earl and Martin running a 2 on none fastbreak. So Earl slowed up to give Martin some extra highlight material. He lofted the ball up off the backboard so Martin could go up and throw it down. Unfortunately, he did loft it nearly high enough, and instead, it bounced around and went in. Earl stood on the baseline in disbelief... and Martin ran back on defense, smiling thru his yellow mouthguard.

Not too many negatives to be found in this game. About the only lapse was the 2nd quarter, when the Jazz got back into it, outscoring the Nuggets 24-20. The Nuggets pushed again all 2nd half and were never really threatened.

With the other 3 teams above the Nuggets losing in the last two nights, the Nuggets are now just 3 games out of 8th place in the Western Conference playoff race. There are a lot of games to be played still, but that's a good thing because the Nuggets are now playing some of their best ball. That's 5-1 with Coach George Karl at the helm, if you are keeping track.

Game Summary written by: aswitzer

Have a comment? Discuss this game in the NH Forums!