[jwplayer JDiqv0kV]
Donovan Mitchell scored a team-high 30 points on Wednesday to lead the Utah Jazz to a 124-105 win over the Denver Nuggets in Game 2 to even their first-round playoff series at one game apiece.
The two teams traded the lead a few times during the first quarter but the Jazz began to pull away in the second to take a 61-48 advantage at halftime. Utah pushed the lead up to 31 points at one point as the team set a franchise playoff record with 20 made 3-pointers in the game.
The Nuggets were led by rookie Michael Porter Jr. and Nikola Jokic as the two each scored a team-high 28 points in the loss. However, the Nuggets didn’t receive big contributions from the rest of the roster and did not present much of a challenge.
Porter finished by shooting 10-of-17 from the field, including 6-of-9 from 3-point range, in 26 minutes of work. He went scoreless in the first quarter but recorded 12 points alone in the second as the Nuggets only managed to score 23 total points in the period.
After scoring 13 points in his playoff debut on Monday, Porter returned on Wednesday and played a larger role in the offense. Porter again struggled some on defense but had a better overall performance than he did in Game 1.
With the series tied up at one game apiece, the Nuggets will continue to make adjustments as they will look to limit the Jazz from beyond the arc where they decimated Denver throughout the game.
Game 3 is scheduled to tip-off on Friday at 4 p.m. ET on TNT.
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