Kenneth Faried powered his way to 15 points and 13 rebounds, and Denver beat Utah, keeping the Jazz winless with a 100-81 victory Monday night in Salt Lake City.
Kenneth Faried powered his way to 15 points and 13 rebounds, and Denver beat Utah, keeping the Jazz winless with a 100-81 victory Monday night in Salt Lake City.Rick Bowmer/Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY

Andre Miller scored nine of his season-high 15 points in the fourth quarter, and Denver defeated the winless Utah Jazz 100-81 on Monday.

Ty Lawson had 17 points, and Kenneth Faried added 15 points and 13 rebounds for the Nuggets, who outscored the Jazz 30-13 in a dominant fourth quarter.

Utah dropped to 0-8 and remained the only winless team in the NBA.

Miller hit a 3-pointer – he hasn’t missed in four attempts this season – and Faried added an emphatic dunk to power a 10-1 run that gave Denver an 82-74 lead with 7:13 to play.

John Lucas III drove for a layup, but Miller responded with a pair of nifty baskets in the lane, and the Jazz couldn’t get within nine.

Gordon Hayward had 22 points but didn’t score in the final period. Derrick Favors added 21 points and 13 rebounds for the Jazz, who extended their worst start to a season since moving to Utah in 1979.

The Nuggets had the fourth-best record (57-25) in the NBA last season, but a fourth consecutive first-round playoff exit ushered in new coach Brian Shaw after George Karl was fired.

Weary of Denver’s lethargic play this season, Shaw threatened to sit any of his players who fail to give maximum effort.

The Nuggets responded with their finest quarter of the season in the fourth, even without starting center JaVale McGee, who has a stress fracture in his leg.

Fighting a bad hamstring, Faried looked to be his lively self until he got hit in the throat during a mad scramble for the ball in the fourth. He put his head in a towel and ran to the locker room. He later returned to the arena, but the Nuggets already were coasting to their first road win.

Denver outrebounded the Jazz 52-35 and outmuscled their big frontline, outscoring Utah 48-36 in the paint.

Behind Hayward’s 18 points in the first half, the Jazz led by as many as 10 before Denver erased the deficit and pulled ahead 46-45 at the break.

In the fourth quarter, the Jazz missed layups, let balls go through their legs and got lost on defensive rotations – all reasons the team has yet to win a game. Utah shot 4-for-18 in the final period.

The Jazz have a number of issues but foremost is their poor shooting – a league-worst 40.1 percent from the field and 23.6 percent on 3-pointers. Utah went 4-for-17 from beyond the arc Monday.