Conley is big daddy in return

For four long days, Mike Conley was confined to his hotel in quarantine. He wasn’t about to be contained on the court.

Conley made a career playoff-high seven threepointers and scored 27 points in his return, helping the Utah Jazz rout the Denver Nuggets 124-87 on Friday for a 2-1 lead in the firstround series.

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: He’s a terrific player,” Jazz coach Quin Snyder said. “I know how glad our guys were to see him back.”

Conley left the NBA bubble for the birth of his son and returned Monday night. He went through a four-day quarantine that ended Friday.

While in isolation, Conley said he got about 30 minutes of outside activity a day to work on his game.

There wasn’t a hint of rust as he made his series debut. He was seven for eight from three-point range and had four assists.

“Being on that court was all I was thinking about other than my family,” Conley said. “Thankful to be back and looking forward to the rest of the series.”

The 37-point loss tied the third-worst in Denver’s playoff history. The record is 44 against the Lakers on May 22, 1985.

The Nuggets had 17 turnovers and shot 37.5% from the floor. They were also 12 for 38 from three-point range.

“They’re playing at a different level than us right now and we have to somehow find a way to not only match that but exceed that going into game No. 4,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said.

Rudy Gobert had a playoff career-high 24 points and 14 rebounds for the Jazz.

Donovan Mitchell had 20 points after scoring a Jazz playoff-record 57 in Game 1 and 30 in Game 2.

Celtics 102, 76ers 94: Kemba Walker scored 24 points and Boston closed with a 10-0 run to take a 3-0 series lead.

Raptors 117, Nets 92: Pascal Siakam scored 26 points and Toronto never trailed in taking a 3-0 series lead.