Kleiza embarrassed the Jazz for a career-high 41 points and the Nuggets handed their Northwest Division rival a distressing 120-109 loss at Pepsi Center. Kleiza had scored 42 points combined in Denver's previous five games.
Once again, the Jazz were defenseless. Kleiza hit four three-pointers but got the bulk of his points by simply beating the Jazz down court. The Nuggets had 38 fast-break points in the game, 22 more than their average.
Allen Iverson had 28 points and Carmelo Anthony added 23.
The Jazz squandered a chance to pull even with the Nuggets in the standings. Now they're back to square one after falling to 6-15 on the road this season.
It was the end of the Jazz's four-game winning streak as well as the momentum they'd generated by winning six of their last seven games, all in Salt Lake City. The Jazz also surrendered more than 110 points for the 10th time in 40 games.
Having struggled so much on the road, the Jazz donned their baby blue alternate jerseys Thursday. Instead of separate early and late buses to the arena, Jazz coach Jerry Sloan had his team take one bus together.
Kleiza, meanwhile, had 27 points at halftime and kept rolling in the third quarter, when he scored nine more points and the Nuggets built a 13-point lead. He joined Tracy McGrady, LeBron James and Josh Howard as 40-point scorers against the Jazz.
He pushed forward and caught the Jazz flat-footed after a three seconds call. After Mehmet Okur missed a three-point, Kleiza outran the Jazz center and drew contact for a three-point play. He ran out after a Kyle Korver missed a three-pointer and was hammered by Korver.
The Jazz trailed 90-81 after Kleiza swished two free throws following the Korver foul. The Nuggets led by 13 after a J.R. Smith alley-oop dunk and took a 98-88 advantage into the fourth quarter. That might as well have been curtains for the Jazz.
They are 0-8 now when they enter the fourth quarter trailing on the road. Kleiza buried another three pointer with 6:34 left and effectively put the game out of reach after the Jazz had closed to 13.
So much for the NBA's top scoring duo of Iverson and nthony. The Nuggets two stars took a backseat in the first half to Kleiza, an unheralded third-year forward from Lithuania who was all but unstoppable.
Kleiza had 27 points by halftime -- 20 in the second quarter -- largely by hitting three three-pointers and beating the Jazz down court on the fast break. He also attacked for a dunk and hit a six-footer after Marcus Camby tipped a rebound to him.
Kleiza was only in the starting lineup because the Nuggets were missing power forward Kenyon Martin to a staph infection. Kleiza's 27 first-half points came on 9 of 14 shooting and was only two points shy of his career high.
The Jazz went into halftime trailing just 61-59 and were able to erase a 10-point deficit thanks to Kyle Korver's shooting. Korver came into the game having made just 5 of 23 three-pointers since coming to the Jazz but had 16 points in the half.
That included four three-pointers. Korver also was enlisted to cover Iverson, his former teammate with Philadelphia, after Ronnie Brewer went to the bench with two fouls less than 4 1/2 minutes in.
