The Utah Jazz defeated the Denver Nuggets, 118-114, at Vivint Arena on Saturday afternoon.

The Nuggets (52-29) came into the afternoon with a plan to give their starters some fairly solid run as a tune-up for the postseason, but it was the Jazz (37-44) that came out of the gates firing on all cylinders while building a 32-19 first-quarter lead. That seemed to wake up Denver, which forged a 76-57 advantage during the middle periods to take a six-point lead into the final period. However, another suffocating defensive effort by Utah in the fourth quarter, where they once again held the visitors to 19 points, led to the narrow comeback win.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope led the Nuggets with 21 points, adding three assists, two blocks and one steal. Jamal Murray furnished 20 points, five assists, four rebounds, one steal and one block. Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter contributed matching 15-point, four-rebound, two-assist efforts. Christian Braun delivered 14 points, six boards, one assist, three steals and one block.

Ochai Agbaji paced the Jazz with 28 points, complementing them with three rebounds, three assists and one steal. Luka Samanic provided 23 points, eight rebounds, one assist and two steals. Kris Dunn generated a 19-point, 14-assist double-double that included eight rebounds, three steals and one block. Simone Fontecchio totaled 15 points, six rebounds, four assists and one steal.

The Nuggets finish the regular season by hosting the Sacramento Kings on Sunday afternoon, while the Jazz close out the campaign with a visit to the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday afternoon as well.