Nikola Jokic registered his 71st triple-double of his career with 27 points on 12-15 shooting, 12 rebounds and 10 assists as the Denver Nuggets grabbed a 124-104 win against the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday afternoon. The Nuggets outscored the Nets 64-32 in the paint and had 37 assists.
“I thought our bench was solid tonight,” Michael Malone said. “But Nikola is our best player. He’s the MVP of the league. Get him out there, play through him and play around him.”
There was a moment in the fourth quarter where Denver saw its lead go from 21 to just 10 with Jokic sitting on the bench. The Nuggets didn’t have a field goal until over four minutes into the quarter but Barton was able to close it out with 10 points.
Aside from Jokic, it was an impressive game all around for the Nuggets. Barton finished with 21 points and six rebounds. Aaron Gordon had 17 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. Jeff Green and Monte Morris finished with 12 points each.
The Nuggets got off to a 6-0 start thanks to hitting four of their first five shots of the game. The Nets started to get in their groove after knocking down a couple 3-pointers. They went 50% from both the field and from long range. Thirteen year veteran Blake Griffin started going off from beyond the arc and scored 10 points in the quarter. Denver had an all around solid effort from all of their guys to take a seven-point lead midway through the quarter. Will Barton had seven points and both Aaron Gordon and Jeff Green had six. Brooklyn closed the first on a 7-4 run to take a 40-39 lead. Both teams shot the rock at a high clip. Denver went 54% from the field.
Denver dominated the paint in the second quarter outscoring Brooklyn 24-8 but the Nets were still on fire from beyond the arc. They shot 50% from long range behind Griffin’s three 3-pointers in the quarter and they took as much as a seven-point lead. The Nuggets responded with a 7-0 run to tie it up at 65 midway through. Jokic went off and scored 14 points to give the Nuggets a 76-75 lead. Seven of his points came in the closing minutes.
Griffin’s solid shooting from long range in the first half wasn’t going to fly with coach Malone in the second half so he knew they had to make a coverage change to stop it.
“I think the one adjustment that we made at the end of the second and carried into the second half which really helped was taking Nikola off of Blake and putting him on James Johnson so now when they’re running the Kyrie, Blake pick and roll we’re able to switch it with Jeff and Aaron,” Malone said. “I thought that was a big part of their offense in the first half and that adjustment on the matchup took that away.”
After that change, Griffin went 0-2 from the field in the second half. Jokic was all too familiar with Griffin hitting 3-pointers on him.
“The guy was an All-Star and he can make shots of course,” Jokic said. “Maybe he doesn’t shoot good this season but I think he actually made a bunch of them last time on me last time we played I think he scored a lot of threes on me while I’m guarding him.”
The Nuggets went on a 7-2 run to open the third behind two straight baskets from Jokic. They took an 83-77 lead and then went on a 13-3 run to take a 96-80 lead with 4:15 left. The Nets eventually went on a 7-0 run of their own to get within 14 points but Bones Hyland knocked down a three to end the quarter to give Denver the 107-91 lead. Jokic and Gordon finished the third with nine points each.
Jokic watched from the bench for most of the fourth quarter but the Nuggets’ second unit was pretty stagnant. They didn’t score a field goal until the 7:45 mark allowing the Nets to make it a 10-point game. Gordon, Morris and Barton managed to hold it down and went on an 8-0 run to take a 117-99 lead with 4:26 left. Barton continued to run it up and finished with ten points in the quarter to give Denver the 124-104 win.
Coach Malone spent most of the postgame press conference talking about the trade deadline which is Feb. 10. DeMarcus Cousins has had a couple 10-day contracts with Denver and the last day of his most recent contract was on Sunday. Malone talked about the impact he has made with the team so far and why he’s a fan of the veteran big man.
“I would say overall his health has made his availability tough at times,” Malone said. “When he has played I think he’s got a positive impact. You can’t just look at him at the stat sheet because he hasn’t made shots at a high level. Tonight he was 2 of 6 and he did make a 3 which was great but the rebounding, the defense, the toughness, the physicality, the edge that he brings I think it’s tremendous. So tonight in 16 minutes he goes out and get nines rebounds, five points. And he’s a guy that you can play through and if you look at his per 36 minutes stats with us they really are very impressive so I thought he was good for us tonight and overall.”
While it’s the toughness Malone appreciates about Cousins, it’s the one thing that Cousins feels promotes unfair treatment from officials across the league and he’s tired of it. In the four games that he has played with Denver he has received four technicals and one ejection. He was given a technical on Sunday as well.
“It’s like beating a dead horse,” Cousins said. “It’s obvious, I am who I am. I don’t get it. I’m viewed 100 percent differently than every other player in this league. Is it fair? No but it’s the situation that I’m in. I absolutely hate it. I think it’s unfair. But it is what it is. It’s frustrating. It’s hard when you live a life where the narrative that you don’t agree with but this is a business that puts their own narrative on people and sometimes it’s true and sometimes it’s not but all I can do is continue to push and be the best version of myself and let the rest fall into place.”
His reputation across the league even had players like Jokic think he wasn’t a good guy but now after playing with him he realizes that he was wrong.
“I love him,” Jokic said. “He’s a great man. Before that we were kind of rivals and I thought he was a bad person but he’s a really good guy and he’s fun to be around. Great personality. Can get a little crazy when something doesn’t go his way but he proved me wrong.”
Overall Malone and Jokic agree that Cousins is a great for their basketball club but the decision is ultimately in the hands of Tim Connelly who is the President of Basketball Operations for the Denver Nuggets.
Denver has just five more games before the much needed All-Star break. Malone understands that this time of year can get hectic but he still wants his players focused for these next few games. The Nuggets are 29-24 on the season and in sixth place in the Western Conference. Malone is proud of his guys but never satisfied.
“I think it is pretty remarkable where we are and that’s not underselling our team,” Malone said. “When you look at everything this team has gone through and who we’ve gone through the season without I’m really proud of our group for staying with it and being where we are. Not pleased, not satisfied, we can grow and continue to get better but I’ll get with Tim. We’ve had a couple conversations already talking about who we are and I think you owe it to yourselves. It’s not that you’re looking to make moves but you owe it to yourself, your franchise to put the best team out there.”