Jazz 100, Nuggets 84
DENVER -- Rookie Trey Lyles scored a career-high 22 points, Gordon Hayward also scored 22 and had nine rebounds, and the Utah Jazz helped their playoff cause with a 100-84 win over the Denver Nuggets on Sunday.
Rudy Gobert had 16 points, 14 rebounds and six blocked shots for Utah, which leads Houston by a game for the eighth and final playoff seed in the Western Conference.
The Rockets beat the Lakers on Sunday to keep the pace with Utah. The Jazz trails Dallas by a game for seventh and host the Mavericks in a pivotal matchup on Monday night.
Utah (40-40) ends the regular season on Wednesday at the L.A. Lakers in Kobe Bryant's final game.
Nikola Jokic had 19 points and 11 rebounds and Emmanuel Mudiay also scored 19 points for the Nuggets. Denver (33-48) finished 18-23 at home and finished out of the playoffs for the third straight year.
With their season possibly in the balance, the Jazz used a dominating third quarter to take control and put away Denver. Utah outscored the Nuggets 34-15 in the period and ended it with a 24-0 run to turn a four-point deficit into an 82-62 lead.
Hayward sparked the Jazz on both ends, getting two steals and scoring seven points. Utah held the Nuggets scoreless over the final 6:56 of the period.
The drought carried over to the fourth before Will Barton's dunk ended it with 10:28 left. Denver missed 14 straight shots and had four turnovers before Barton scored.
The Nuggets had a reason to beat the Jazz on Sunday. If the Rockets reach the playoffs this season, Denver will get their first-round pick from the Ty Lawson trade last summer. If Houston doesn't reach the playoffs, the Nuggets get a 2017 second-round pick.
The Nuggets already possess two first rounders -- their own and Portland's from the trade that sent Arron Afflalo to the Trail Blazers last year.
NOTES: Jazz coach Quin Snyder said G Alec Burks "had a little bit of soreness" after Friday's game but that was to be expected. Burks missed 50 games with a fractured left fibula and played 31 minutes in his return in the loss to the Clippers. ... Denver F Darrell Arthur was active after missing the last three games. Arthur sat for two games with sore knees and missed Friday's win over the Spurs because of a family matter. ... Snyder said his team needed to forget Friday's late collapse and overtime loss to the Clippers. "You can't let one game beat your twice," he said. ... Nuggets F Kenneth Faried did not start again because of general soreness. Faried did not play Friday but was available off the bench.