A battle of talented big men went to Miami as Hassan Whiteside led the Heat to a 106-98 victory over the Nuggets in Denver on Wednesday.
Whiteside, the NBA’s leading rebounder, pulled down 16 boards but it was his game-high 25 points and four blocks that was the difference against the Nuggets. Denver’s twin towers, Nikola Jokic and Jusuf Nurkic, combined for 21 points and 20 boards in the loss.
The Heat went on a 15-2 run in the second quarter helped in part by turnovers from Denver’s young guards, Emmanuel Mudiay and Jamal Murray. Those two combined for six turnovers in the game – as many as the Heat had as an entire team.
Wilson Chandler had another strong performance off the bench. He was one of three Nuggets to finish the game with 17 points, including Jokic, Jameer Nelson and Danilo Gallinari. Gallinari was back in the lineup for the first time in a week; he missed three games with a thigh injury.
The Nuggets took a third quarter lead, but Wayne Ellington got hot in the fourth and sunk three critical 3-pointers to swing the momentum. Whiteside made a key block on Murray in the game’s final minute to help ice things.
Denver hosts Houston on Friday in a late tip, then must travel to Utah on Saturday night.
