April 3rd, 2009 
Stephen Rhodes 
Posted in 
On most nights, the Denver Nuggets starting five would be the main source of their offense; however, on Thursday night in their game against the Utah Jazz, their bench gave them an unexpected but most welcome offensive spark – with the end result being Denver reaching the 50-win plateau at the earliest time in their history as they defeated Utah 114-104 at Pepsi Center.
The second quarter would prove big for Denver as they outscored Utah 33-19, taking a sizable 54-43 lead into their locker room at halftime; J.R. Smith was the spark the Nuggets needed in the second half as he was in the zone from behind the arc, draining a pair of 3-pointers in the fourth quarter. Smith’s scoring helped the Nuggets take a 90-77 lead at that point; the Jazz managed to reduce their deficit to 104-98 but really couldn’t get any closer.
Denver’s high scorer was the aforementioned Smith from off the bench with 28 points (including eight – that’s right, eight!! – 3-pointers), 2 rebounds, 7 assists and a block while Carmelo Anthony added 23 with 9 rebounds, 4 assists and a steal; Chauncey Billups chipped in 17 with 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals while even Chris Andersen got involved as he did his best Marcus Camby impression by grabbing 10 boards and blocking 8 shots.
Utah was led by C.J. Miles with 19 points (including 3 treys), a rebound, 3 assists, 2 steals and a block while Deron Williams added 18 with 5 rebounds, 10 assists, 2 steals and a block; Carlos Boozer pitched in 15 with 11 rebounds, 4 assists and a steal while Mehmet Okur and Paul Millsap scored 14 each – with Okur grabbing 15 boards along with a steal while Millsap grabbed 12 rebounds along with 2 steals and a block. Denver (50-26) plays again on Saturday when they host the Los Angeles Clippers while Utah (46-29) returns home to host the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday.
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