DENVER, Oct. 24 (Ticker) -- The Utah Jazz weren't trying to send a
message to their division rival, were they?
Carlos Boozer scored 16 points and hauled in nine rebounds to
lead the Jazz to a 127-107 preseason rout of the Denver Nuggets.
Boozer was 6-of-7 from the floor and C.J. Miles scored 11 of his
13 points in a 37-point second quarter for the Jazz, who
received at least five points from 11 different players.
The game was tied at the start of the second period before Utah
outscored Denver by 18 for a 63-45 halftime lead. Matt Harpring
added 17 points for the Jazz, who shot 54 percent (44-of-81).
Utah started the third period on a 14-1 run to go up, 77-46.
The Jazz, who finished three games behind the Northwest
Division-winning Nuggets in 2005-06, scored at least 32 points
in three of the four quarters.
J.R. Smith was one of the few bright spots for Denver. He scored 26
points on 9-of-14 shooting. The third-year guard made eight
3-pointers, all in the second half.
Denver shot 42 percent (33-of-77) and received 10 assists each
by Earl Boykins and Andre Miller. Carmelo Anthony scored 14
points but was just 4-of-15 from the floor.