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SALT LAKE CITY -- Alec Burks didnt feel like he needed to be Gordon Hayward. He just needed to be his best twisting, turning acrobatic self. "I didnt need to be anybody else, I just needed to be myself and be aggressive," said Burks, who scored a career-high 34 points to spark the Utah Jazz to a 118-103 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Monday night. Derrick Favors added 19 points and 15 rebounds while Trey Burke had 18 points for the Jazz, who won their fifth game in the last six home starts. Burks was filling in for Gordon Hayward, who sat out his second consecutive game after scoring a career-high 37 points -- including the last 17 -- in a win over Oklahoma City last Tuesday. The swingman strained his left hip flexor late in the game and his absence was apparent as Cleveland snapped Utahs four-game home winning streak on Friday, 113-102. But Burks made his presence felt from the start and had 17 in the first half to help the Jazz run out to a 67-53 lead, the highest first-half total for the Jazz this season. "I was just trying to get to the rim and put some pressure on them," Burks said. His teammates noticed his determination to get into the lane and that led to other open shots. "He came out and established himself from the get-go. He put a ton of pressure on their defence to collapse and try and stop him from scoring," Marvin Williams said. Ty Lawson had 23 points and J.J. Hickson scored 21 but the Nuggets trailed by as many as 24 points as they saw their improbable five-game winning streak come to an end. Burks wowed the crowd with a number of athletic drives to the hoop and several of his forays ended in a basket and a free throw. The Nuggets threw a number of defenders at the slippery Jazz guard but none could stay in front of him. "Some of the shots, I dont know how they went in. Alec said he missed a bunch of layups and I told him, You made a bunch of crazy layups." Richard Jefferson said. "His ability to finish in traffic and his size and the way he can handle the ball is unique." The third-year guard helped the Jazz score a season-high 64 points in the paint and kept his defenders on their heels. "With more opportunity, I am a wiser player now," Burks said. "I know now what everybodys going to do now, how they are going to play defence against me." It was Burks most potent offensive performance since he posted his previous career-best of 31 points in Miami on Dec. 16. But that was in a blowout loss. Burks made 13 of his 19 field goal attempts as the Jazz shot nearly 56 per cent against the Nuggets, who seemed to be one step behind the Utah offence all night. "Defence for the most part tonight was non-existent," Denver coach Brian Shaw said. Favours powerful dunk sparked a 10-2 surge to push the advantage to 77-57, the second time in three games the Jazz have led by more than 20 after achieving that wide margin only once the rest of the season. The lead reached 89-65 after Jefferson made a 3-pointer midway through the third quarter. The 118 points Utah tallied was the second-most the Jazz have scored all season, just under the 122 they scored in a runaway win in Sacramento on Dec. 11. "They had a lot of solutions," said Evan Fournier, who had 16 points for Denver. The Nuggets got a taste of their own medicine after they averaged 119.6 points a contest during their five-game win streak. But the energy and defence and accuracy that aided the Nuggets roll were absent against Utah. "We made a ton of mistakes tonight, letting the ball get to the middle and allowing them to penetrate our paint," Shaw said. The Nuggets were 21 of 34 from the line and several misses prevented them from cutting the lead to single digits in the fourth quarter. Notes: In addition to long-term injuries to Danilo Gallinari (left knee) and JaVale McGee (left leg), the Nuggets were without reserve forwards Darrell Arthur (left groin) and Anthony Randolph (left ankle). Fellow reserve Wilson Chandler has been battling a left hip strain and missed Denvers previous two games but scored 12 points in his return. ... Hayward, who leads Utah in scoring at 17.1 points per game, is day to day and planned to accompany the team on its upcoming three-game road trip starting Wednesday in San Antonio. Brian Urlacher Jersey .C. -- Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith has been ruled out for Sundays game against the Atlanta Falcons. Dick Butkus Jersey .C. -- The RBC Cups semifinal participants were decided by a pair of overtime games. http://www.cheapbearsjerseysauthentic.com/.Y. - The New York Yankees made it official Saturday, announcing the completion of a seven-year deal with free-agent outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury and a one-year contract for returning starter Hiroki Kuroda. William Perry Jersey . The ninth-seeded Safarova doused Swede Johanna Larsson 6-2, 6-3 on the green clay at Family Circle Tennis Center. The Czech player was a finalist here two years ago and captured back-to-back doubles titles in 2012 and last year. Mike Singletary Jersey . - Jordan Addesis shootout goal helped the Plymouth Whalers to a 3-2 win over the Sault Ste.Tonight, the Dallas Stars will be raising No. 9 to the rafters in honor of Mike Modano. The festivities begin this afternoon at 4:30 with an arrival event and “Green Carpet” ceremony in true Stars fashion and the ceremony itself begins at 6:00. The Stars have also released a book with limited quantities entitled "Nine: A Salute to Mike Modano" with 1,000 special edition copies personally autographed by Modano that have already sold out. We reached out to several of Modanos colleagues from his playing career to discuss their experiences with him. Bill Guerin, two-time Stanley Cup winner, four-time NHL All-Star and U.S. Olympic Silver Medalist: “Ive known Mike for a long time. We played in the World Juniors when we were 18 and were teammates in three Olympics and two World Cups. It was Mike in the middle, Keith Tkachuk on the left and myself on the right. Mike is the greatest American to ever play the game. He is an amazing hockey player and an even better person. We first met when I was playing in Springfield and he was playing in St. Albert and I couldnt believe the skill level of a player that age could be that high. He was better than everyone else, but so humble. It was amazing that he could be so great and also so grounded. Mike IS the Dallas Stars, so its fitting that they are retiring his number” Craig Button, TSN Scout and former Dallas Stars Director of Scouting (1992-98) and Director of Player Personnel (1998-2000): “Watching Modano raise the Stanley Cup over his head, the exhilaration and the emotion that you could feel was phenomenal. At that time, he was only the fourth first overall pick (since the universal draft began in 1970) to win the Cup with the franchise that had drafted him. Only Guy Lafleur (1971), Denis Potvin (1973) and Mario Lemieux (1984) were those who had donee it to that point.dddddddddddd Ironically Lemieux and Modano faced off in 1991 when it was going to happen for the third time. There is an expectation that when you are selected first overall that you can change the fortunes of a franchise. Mike did that and his moment when he raised the cup I think embodied a lot of satisfaction in being able to do it.” Mark Janko, Dallas Stars Director of Hockey Administration and Director of Public Relations from 2005 to 2008. “The thing that people dont understand is how generous he is with his time with people. Hes been pulled in so many different directions over the years. We asked him to go to hospitals, kids carnivals, so many different things and he always stayed longer than he was required. He would stay for an hour when he was asked to stay for 10 minutes. He was the perfect athlete to sell the game to Dallas. The fans love him and he still lives in Dallas to this day. He wanted to sell the game in Dallas and did whatever he could to do it. People need to know how sensitive he is. He cares so much about others and about winning. He had tears in his eyes during his last game in Dallas, when he won the Stanley Cup and when he retired as a member of the Dallas Stars. He has such a tender heart, but also a warriors spirit. He cared so passionately and deeply about the type of person and teammate that he was. He came back from injuries faster than expected because he worked so hard to do it. He had God-given ability and worked effortlessly to perfect it.” Theres no shortage of great sentiment when it comes to Modano and theres no doubt about whether tears will be shed tonight during this incredible honour. These reflections about Modano are great, but none of them compare to the greatness of his hairdo and babyface on the day of the 1988 NHL Entry Draft. 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