DENVER (ABC4 Sports) – The Utah Jazz NBA-best winning streak was eventually going to end. But they were hoping it wouldn’t be in blowout fashion.

Nikola Jokic matched a career high with 47 points, while the Nuggets made 15 of 17 three-pointers in the first half, in a 128-117 victory, ending Utah’s 11-game streak.

Jokic was 17 for 26 from the field, hit all four of his 3-point attempts, made 9 of 10 free throws and had 12 rebounds and five assists. He scored 33 points in the first half.

Donovan Mitchell returned from a two-game absence after being in NBA concussion protocol to score 13 points, making just 3 of 12 shots from the field.

“This is a loss, we learn from it and move on,” Mitchell said. “But I think it’s just the way it happened, I think that’s what kind of stings, because there’s things that we can control outside of them shooting whatever it was from three.”

The Nuggets made an incredible 64 percent from three-point range, sinking 18 of 28 from beyond the arc.

Bojan Bogdanovic had his second straight excellent game, pouring in 29 points, making 8 of 13 shots from the field. Derrick Favors returned after missing the last two games with lower back soreness to score seven points.

“We just gotta come out and play a little harder, play with a little bit more energy,” Favors said. “And not make it so easy for them, on both sides of the ball. Like I said, you got to give them they’re credit. “They came out there and played good, played hard, made plays, made a lot of shots, you know they won.”

Will Barton added 18 points, and Jamal Murray had 16 to help the Nuggets win for the sixth time in seven games.

Utah lost for the first time since Jan. 6 at New York. 

Denver hit all eight of its 3-point attempts and shot 80% in the first quarter. The Nuggets kept it going in the second, going 13 of 24 from the field and finishing 15 of 17 from long range in the first half to take a 79-54 halftime lead.

“Our challenge to ourselves has been to try and continue to get better,” head coach Quin Snyder said. “That’s what you take from a night like tonight. It’s hard in the regular season to evaluate yourself on any one game. On the result of any one game but that doesn’t mean you don’t evaluate how you played.”

“We didn’t play our best, that’s what hurts, especially the way we played the last two games against Dallas,” Mitchell said. “To have that performance and they come out and they shoot 15 of 17, that’s what hurts the most.”

The lead was 86-58 with 8:11 left in the third quarter when Utah made a big run. The Jazz hit eight 3-pointers and outscored Denver by 18 to get to 99-91.

“We cut the lead to single digits but you give yourself a difficult hill to climb and a small margin of error and you have to be almost perfect,” Snyder said.

JaMychal Green had all nine of his points in the fourth quarter when the Nuggets got the lead back to 20. Jokic matched his career high with a layup with 2:05 left and took a seat with 1:39 remaining to the disappointment of his teammates.

“I’m oblivious. I have no idea at that point Nikola has 47,” Denver coach Michael Malone said. “Jamal was kind of breaking my chops about that and I love the fact that he’s thinking about his teammate.”

The Jazz (15-5) next host Detroit Tuesday at 8:00 p.m.