In a tough matchup on the road against the Milwaukee Bucks, the Denver Nuggets could not hold on losing 104-98 in the second game of their current three-game road trip.
Denver has now lost six of their last seven games and post a record of 10-7. That record is good for sixth place in the Western Conference as the Nuggets still sit a game and a half behind the first place Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers, and Portland Trailblazers.
The Nuggets have been on a bit of a rough stretch lately having lost five of their last six games coming into Milwaukee. In a matchup against one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference, the Nuggets certainly had their hands full in their matchup against Giannis Antetokounmpo and the rest of the Bucks.
Denver lost their first matchup of the season to Milwaukee just two Sundays ago and were looking for revenge Monday night at the newly built Fiserv Forum. The Nuggets certainly came out firing as a Juancho Hernangomez three-pointer got Denver’s offense off and running. Denver followed that basket up with Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray combining for six points to give the Nuggets an early a 9-7 lead with 7:05 left in the first quarter.
Even as the Nuggets jumped out to an early lead, they still struggled to shoot the ball and opened the game just 6-of-17 shooting from the field, 1-of-7 from behind the three-point line. Those numbers quickly improved with the substitution of Monte Morris, who immediately scored four points in his first two offensive possessions. That coupled with a few Gary Harris baskets helped the Nuggets get out too a 24-18 lead with 2:30 remaining in the first quarter.
Monte sticking with it leads to buckets. https://t.co/Eui4hJjH35
— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) November 20, 2018
Denver rode the momentum Harris and Morris gave them to take a 29-25 lead going into the second quarter. Even though the Nuggets shot just 2-of-10 from three-point range in the first quarter, they still played phenomenal defense and timely offense to take a four-point lead after the games first 12 minutes.
Translating defense into offense was a recipe Denver used in the second quarter as they began the period on a 7-0 run and had tremendous energy on both ends of the floor. That run only continued as it reached 13-2 to stretch Denver’s lead to 42-27 with 8:19 left before halftime. Denver had already made three triples in the first four minutes of the quarter after only making two in period number one.
B3ASL3Y. https://t.co/fQVAqERRN5
— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) November 20, 2018
Malik Beasley hit two threes in that second quarter run and was a big part of the extremely confident play by the Nuggets bench unit. The play from the second unit rubbed off on Denver’s starting five as the Nuggets finished the half strong to take a 56-46 lead going into the halftime locker room.
Murray led the Nuggets offensively at the break with 11 points on 5-10 shooting from the field to go along with five rebounds and five assists. Other notable stat lines were Jokic and Harris who had nine points a piece, while Hernangomez and Beasley each had six points.
After struggling to shoot the ball in the first quarter, Denver went into halftime going 24-of-50 from the field and 6-of-21 from behind the three-point line. The only thing Denver did not shoot a lot of in the first half was free-throws as they went just 2-of-3 from the line, which is a number that drastically needed to improve in the second half.
The free-throws did not improve to start the third quarter though as Denver began the half just 1-of-5 shooting from the field letting Milwaukee get back into the game. Denver still led 59-54 with 9:54 remaining in the third and continued to play solid defense as they looked to get hot on the offensive end of the floor.
That would not be the case though as Denver struggled with turnovers and stopping Antetokounmpo to let Milwaukee climb back into the game. An 8-5 Bucks run gave the Nuggets a 64-62 lead with 5:39 remaining in the third as Milwaukee began the half on a 16-8 run. Antetokounmpo was a major part in that run as he already had 21 points, five rebounds, and five assists with a quarter and a half to go.
That man has a FAMILY!! 😨#FearTheDeer pic.twitter.com/Z4VGFTwZxO
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) November 20, 2018
The Antetokounmpo show continued as Milwaukee closed the quarter on a 13-4 run to take a 78-77 lead going into the fourth quarter. Antetokounmpo finished three quarters with 27 points on 12-of-20 shooting from the field as the Nuggets had no answer to stop the Bucks superstar. Denver would end up being outscored 32-21 in the third and were in dire need of a big fourth quarter to steal a victory on the road.
After a back and fourth opening five minutes of the quarter, the Nuggets finally took the lead as a Beasley three gave Denver an 87-86 lead with 7:15 remaining in the game. That lead would not last long though as a 9-2 Bucks run put the Nuggets down 95-89 with 3:53 remaining in the game.
A Jokic three-point play out of timeout got Denver back into the game before a Brook Lopez three-pointer stretched the Bucks lead back out to six. After an Antetokounmpo alley-pop, Denver was able to get back-to-back threes from Harris and Jokic to cut their deficit to two with 40 seconds remaining.
The Bucks would answer yet again though as a big three from Khris Middleton gave Milwaukee a five point lead with 27 seconds remaining. That would be the proverbial nail in the coffin for Denver after a couple missed threes and some free-throws from the Bucks gave the Nuggets a 104-98 loss on the road.
Stat leaders for the Nuggets were Murray who finished with 17 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field to go along with eight rebounds and nine assists. Other notable stat lines were from Jokic who had 20 points, five assists, and five rebounds and from Harris and Morris who scored 14 and 10 points respectively.
For the Bucks, Antetokounmpo led the way with 29 points on 13-of-25 shooting from the field to go along with 12 rebounds and six assists. Eric Bledsoe also had a big night for Milwaukee with 23 points on 8-of-10 shooting, 3-of-4 from downtown, while also chipping in five rebounds and five assists.
The Nuggets have a day off tomorrow before they are back in action Wednesday night in Minnesota to face the Timberwolves.