NBA: Utah 97, Denver 91

SALT LAKE CITY, March 7 (UPI) -- Deron Williams had 25 points and 11 assists Friday night and the Utah Jazz beat Denver 97-91 for their 10th consecutive victory.

Ronnie Brewer scored 16 points, Mehmet Okur had 12 and C.J. Miles scored 10 for the Jazz, who also got nine points and 16 rebounds from Carlos Boozer.

J.R. Smith led all scorers with 27 points and Carmelo Anthony scored 20 for the Nuggets, who lost for the third time in their last four games.

Denver jumped out to an early lead, went up by 24-16 lead after the first period and extended its lead to 47-37 at halftime, but Utah opened the second half with an 8-0 run to get back in the game and Brewer ran off six points to put Utah up 55-52 midway through the third.

A free throw by Boozer, a pair of layups by Paul Millsap and a 3-point basket by Kyle Korver gave the Jazz an 81-71 lead at 2:48 of the fourth and the Nuggets never got back in the game after that.