SALT LAKE CITY -- If there were any worries about George Hill showing some rust in his return to action, he quickly eliminated those concerns. With Hill back at the helm, the Utah Jazz sizzled on offense from the opening tip.

Hill scored 22 points in his first game back from a thumb injury to help the Jazz cruise to a 108-83 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday night. Utah looked like a radically different team than the group that lost at Denver on Sunday.

The Jazz (8-8) snapped a four-game losing streak with an impressive performance on both ends of the court. Utah shot 49.4 percent (39 of 79) and never trailed.

On defense, the Jazz held their own on the glass and forced the Nuggets to settle for low-percentage shots. They outrebounded Denver 51-49 and limited the Nuggets to just 31.8 percent (28 of 88).

"We played with more juice," forward Gordon Hayward said. "We played with a little bounce in our step."

Hayward added 22 points and seven assists for Utah. Rudy Gobert scored 19 points and collected 13 rebounds for his eighth double-double of the season, while Rodney Hood chipped in 16 points for the Jazz.

All three players played looser with Hill at the controls. For his part, the veteran point guard couldn't wait to get out there and show his hot start to the season was no flash in the pan. Hill prepared himself mentally to pick up right where he left off.

"Any time you miss a lot of games -- especially when your team is losing -- you want to get back out there and be a part of it," Hill said. "It's always fun to be out there with these guys and fighting night in and night out."

Jamal Murray scored 23 points off the bench and Wilson Chandler added 13 to lead the Nuggets. It wasn't enough to give Denver (6-9) its third straight win.

The Jazz scored on their first four possessions and jumped out to a 14-0 lead just 2 1/2 minutes into the game. They scored just 14 points during the first quarter in their loss to Denver on Sunday. Utah more than doubled that amount this time around after shooting 66.7 percent (14 of 21) -- 6 of 10 from the perimeter -- in the first 12 minutes.

Hayward opened the initial spurt with a 3-pointer and bookended it with a layup and free throw. The Jazz eventually carved out a 22-3 lead behind back-to-back 3-pointers from Hill and Hood and left Denver struggling to climb out of a chasm. The Nuggets missed their first seven shots before Chandler finally broke the ice with a jumper 4 1/2 minutes into the game.

Slow starts have been a recurring theme for Denver this season, and finding the right group of starters is a puzzle that the Nuggets are still struggling to solve.

"We've changed it many times," Nuggets coach Mike Malone said. "We've had seven or eight different starting lineups already in a very young season. They haven't gotten us off to great starts."

Chandler did his best to rally the Nuggets from their slow start. He scored 13 points in the first quarter to breathe some life into Denver's offense. Chandler, Darrell Arthur and Murray each buried 3-pointers over three straight possessions to cut Utah's lead to 31-20.

Denver finally cut the deficit to single digits on another Murray 3-pointer just before the first quarter ended. The Nuggets erased Utah's lead altogether on a putback basket from Kenneth Faried that tied it at 45-45 with 3:03 remaining in the second quarter. Faried's shot capped a 16-2 Denver run that lasted nearly seven minutes.

Hood answered by cutting to the rim for back-to-back baskets to put the Jazz back ahead going into halftime. Utah carried the momentum over into the third quarter. The Jazz outscored the Nuggets 17-3 to open the half, eventually taking a 70-50 lead on a 3-pointer from Hill midway through the quarter.

"We all came out motivated," Gobert said. "We came out and played defense for 48 minutes, and I think we did a pretty good job."

Denver made the game-clinching run possible by missing nine straight shots to open the second half before Murray buried a 3-pointer. The Nuggets also turned the ball over eight times in the half to complicate comeback efforts.

Utah capitalized and built a 28-point lead during the fourth quarter, going up 99-71 on a pair of free throws from Hill with 6:26 remaining.

"Your defense has to travel and you can't beat yourself," Malone said. "Turnovers on the road are really tough to handle because that's going to get the crowd into the game. You have to fight the mental aspect of it. This is our third game in four nights."

NOTES: Utah F Boris Diaw scored a season-high 11 points in 23 minutes. Diaw totaled just 13 points in his first six games for the Jazz. Denver F Wilson Chandler ranked first among all NBA bench players in scoring (17 ppg) and third in rebounding (7.3) entering Wednesday. Chandler is one of only 15 players in the league to average at least 17 points and seven rebounds this season. ... Denver averaged an NBA-best 49.9 rebounds heading into Wednesday. The Jazz became the first opponent to outrebound the Nuggets this season. ... Utah held its opponents to fewer than 90 points for the seventh time this season -- the most of any NBA team.