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DENVER (AP) - Kenneth Faried shook off a stomach bug to help the Denver Nuggets shake off a rare home loss.
After missing the team's morning shootaround because of the illness, Faried scored 15 points and had 10 rebounds as the Nuggets pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat the Utah Jazz 110-91 on Saturday night.
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"I got some medication to help my stomach and also help the dehydration. It paid off a lot," Faried said. "I was able to come out and play, but I still felt kind of queasy. They said it was up to me at game time, but I'm not going to miss no games."
Danilo Gallinari scored 26 points and Andre Iguodala added 18 points for the Nuggets, who had intense, focused practices in the aftermath of their eight-game home winning streak being snapped by Minnesota on Thursday.
"It hurt because we knew we could play a lot better and we feel we had a game stolen from us," Iguodala said. "Focus was really good at shootaround and I think it carried over to the game."
The Nuggets extended their recent success against Utah at home, winning for the eighth time in the past 10 meetings between the teams at the Pepsi Center.
"It was a bounce-back game played the right way, with passion and intensity," Nuggets coach George Karl said. "I thought we got everything we wanted to do. We were executing our offense very well and they didn't get anybody hot. Defensively, we were sound the whole game, it broke (open), and fortunately we had an easy one."
Paul Millsap had 15 points to lead the Jazz, who were without center Enes Kanter (ankle) and guard Mo Williams (right thumb surgery).
Leading by four at the break, the Nuggets stretched their advantage to 60-47 by outscoring the Jazz 11-2 to start the third quarter, culminating the run with a 3-pointer by Ty Lawson, who finished with 14 points, and a driving dunk by Iguodala.
The Jazz responded with a 12-0 run of their own, getting successive 3-pointers at one point from Randy Foye and Marvin Williams to cut the deficit to 60-56.
But Denver gained ground again, taking an 83-72 lead into the fourth quarter after Andre Miller drained a 3-pointer from the corner in the final moments of the third. Miller's bucket came after an apparent dunk by Utah's Gordon Hayward that would have pulled the Jazz within six points was waved off by officials ruling offensive goal-tending because Hayward hung on the rim.
Hayward said he held onto the rim because he thought he might be undercut by the looming Faried, who had moved in to try for a block.
"I thought there was going to be some contact and I think there was a little contact and that's why I hung onto the rim," Hayward said. "I didn't want to get undercut or anything, but for whatever reason, I think (the officials) thought that me hanging on to the rim caused the ball to go in, and I guess you've just got to live with that. You've got to move on to the next play."
Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin said the call was critical because it took the steam of a Jazz push to get within striking distance of the Nuggets.
"It was the turning point in the game," Corbin said. "I thought he got hit, so he had a reason to grab on to the rim, to brace himself so he wouldn't flip. But they didn't see it that way."
Following that sequence, the Nuggets put the game away with a 15-3 burst starting the fourth quarter, going in front 98-75 when Iguodala followed his three-point play with a fast-break layup. Utah's only score during that stretch came on a 3-pointer by Hayward.
"You've got to give them credit," Hayward said. "They knocked down some shots. I think we gave them way too many easy looks in the paint. We let them get a rhythm going at the free throw line as well. We've just got to be better."
NOTES: Utah's Mo Williams is expected to miss six weeks after undergoing surgery in New York on Friday to repair his injured thumb. Kanter missed a second consecutive game because of a sprained right ankle. ... Faried finished with his 15th double double of the season for the Nuggets. ... The Nuggets have won 36 of 38 games when scoring at least 100 points, including the last 21 in a row. ... Utah split a road back-to-back after winning at Phoenix on Friday. ... Denver's Kosta Koufos, a former first-round pick of the Jazz, had a game-high 13 rebounds and the Nuggets outrebounded Utah 48-41 overall.
