Somehow, the Denver Nuggets, who were without three starters and six players, carried a three-game winning streak into their matchup after beating the Memphis Grizzlies, Oklahoma City Thunder, and Toronto Raptors in that order. But to be able to keep their winning streak alive, they had to get past the Dallas Mavericks first.
It took everything the Nuggets had, but by the time the final buzzer had sounded, Denver managed to fight off Dallas’ incredibly hot 3-point shooting, some highly-questionable fouls, and came away with a 126-118 win over the Mavericks for Denver’s fourth-straight win with each of those four wins coming without Gary Harris, Will Barton, or Paul Millsap.
The first quarter was the Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic show. Jokic was hyper-aggressive as a scorer and was inhaling rebounds as if it provided him with life. On the other hand, Doncic was slicing up Denver’s fourth-ranked defense like a surgeon and hitting big shots. Both of them led their respective teams through the first quarter, but it was the Nuggets bench unit that stepped for Denver.
Trey Lyles had a quick eight points in three minutes off the bench for Denver and Monte Morris added in five points and two assists as well. When the first 12 minutes of the game had concluded, Denver carried a 34-33 lead into the second quarter after Jokic racked up 11 points, five rebounds, two assists, and two steals in his first 10 minutes of action.
Once the second quarter began, the Nuggets bench unit picked up right where they left off at the end of the first quarter. Lyles continue to hit every shot he put up, Mason Plumlee was getting lob dunks rolling to the rim, and Malik Beasley was bringing boundless energy to the game. To start the second quarter, Denver’s bench unit was able to keep pace with the Mavericks and give the Nuggets starting unit a two-point lead to work with when the returned to the game.
Once the Nuggets starters returned, their offense took off once again with a lot of the credit going to Jamal Murray, who had a single-game, career-high 11 assists while there was still 5:15 left before halftime. When Murray wasn’t creating whatever look he wanted, Jokic was picking up the slack. In the first two quarters, Jokic racked up 22 points and nine rebounds on 9-of-18 shooting
Unfortunately, while the Nuggets offense was firing on all cylinders, their defense was not. Denver allowed Dallas to shoot 10-for-16 from the 3-point line and the Mavericks scored a whopping 70 points in the first two quarters. Still, the Nuggets carried a 74-70 lead into the second half.
Once the third quarter began, the officiating began to turn on the Nuggets. Jokic picked up back-to-back controversial foul calls in the first two minutes of the second half. Even in the midst of some rough foul calls, Denver did not falter. Jokic stayed in the game with his four fouls and continued to attack for the Nuggets. When he wasn’t single-handidly carrying the Nuggets scoring load, he was setting up his teammates for great looks.
But the same issues that plagued the Nuggets in the first half continued to hurt them in the second; specifically Dallas’ 3-point shooting. As the Nuggets have done all year, they continued to fight regardless of how many 3-point shots that Dallas sank, but there is only so much fighting that Denver can do as the Mavericks continue to rain down mortar fire from deep. Then, once Jokic went to the bench for a breather, Denver’s offense collapsed which allowed Dallas to extend their lead.
The officiating continued to be one-sided as Denver was called for soft foul after soft foul, but they did not allow that to throw them off their game. They continued to chip away until they eradicated their deficit and pushed their lead up to 10 points thanks to back-to-back big buckets from Jokic and Monte Morris. As Denver’s offense came back to life, so did their defense as they began suffocating Dallas. By the time the third quarter buzzer went off, Denver suddenly led 105-95 behind a 12-0 run to finish out the quarter.
Then, after Denver finished the third quarter on a 12-0 run, the Mavericks responded with a 9-2 run to begin the fourth quarter to bring them within just three points. That is when the last 12 minutes of the game became a dog fight.
Then, as the Nuggets were trying to get over the hump, Murray decided to have the play of the game as he blocked Wesley Matthews in a post up situation and caught the ball simultaneously. Then, directly after blocking the shot, Murray went coast to coast for one of the tougher layups of the night to give Denver life. Denver’s bench was so ecstatic that both Will Barton and Gary Harris ran out onto the court during the timeout and met Murray at half court with cheers and hugs.
Then, with three minutes left and a nine-point lead, the Nuggets just continued to attack Dallas relentlessly. While Dallas was still able to convert offensively, there was nothing they could do to slow Denver offensive attack. Denver ended up winning in a shootout with Dallas as they came away with a 126-118 win for their fourth-straight win.
Nikola Jokic finished with a insane stat line of 32 points on 13-of-25 shooting to go with 16 rebounds, four assists, three steals, and a block. Jamal Murray had a career-high night with 15 assists and also added in 22 points and six rebounds. Monte Morris also had a strong game with 15 points and five assists. Trey Lyles also had a strong game and finished with 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting.
Next, the Nuggets will play just one game in the next seven days. They have three days off before taking on the Clippers in Los Angeles on Saturday night which is December 22nd. That game will tip off at 3pm MST.