The Denver Nuggets won by the skin of their teeth tonight 122-120 over the Dallas Mavericks. Nikola Jokic was awesome. Jamal Murray had some clutch points.

None were more clutch than Michael Porter Jr. though, who hit a floater off the dribble with seven seconds left to give the Nuggets back the lead.

“I felt like if I gave it right back to him, he would have had to take a real tough shot,” Porter said of his decision to drive and take the floater postgame rather than get the ball back to Jamal Murray. “Kyrie was on me, and I just got the step on him off the closeout. Got an easy clean look at a floater, that in-between shot.

It was a big shot in a big situation, Porter’s first shot attempt in the fourth quarter. He looked comfortable taking that shot too, a great sign for his comfort level in moments like these.

On the other end, Irving finally missed a shot after a flaming hot performance for much of the game. It was a missed three in the left corner, and one that many thought he would hit.

Ultimately, it rimmed out, and the Nuggets won their fifth in a row to maintain a perfect 5-0 home stand.

Nikola Jokic was his normal brilliant self, putting up 37 points, 18 rebounds, and 15 assists in his 38 minutes. The Mavericks didn’t have either Dereck Lively II or PJ Washington tonight, two of their best defenders in the frontcourt. Daniel Gafford was left to check Jokic in the starting lineup, and Jokic handled that matchup pretty well, reading the defense and setting teammates up consistently.

“Just incredible. We’re all running out of words, adjectives, and ways to describe his greatness,” Malone shared of Jokic’s performance tonight.

On the other end of the floor, the Nuggets were subpar, giving up 120 points to a pretty impressive Mavericks offense.

Irving was absolutely cooking. He had 43 points on 17-of-22 from the field. It looked like he was throwing coins at a magnet the way the ball was tracking to the net every single time. Christian Braun was his primary defender initially and really struggled. The Nuggets flipped the matchup to Peyton Watson and he struggled too. Everyone matched up with Kyrie struggled, until the final possessions of the night.

“Some guys like that, there’s nothing you can do when they get a hot hand like they got tonight,” Watson shared postgame. “I’m just glad I was able to get [a defensive stop] when it mattered most.”

It’s always a tough matchup against Luka Doncic, and now that the Mavericks have Kyrie Irving and Klay Thompson, it becomes even more difficult to send extra help at Doncic. As a result, Peyton Watson spent a lot of time covering Luka, and he did okay. Doncic had 24 points and 9 assists in his 41 minutes, shooting 9-of-19 from the field and 2-of-8 from three-point range. It’s never all on one player in these situations, but Watson was solid in that coverage.

The problem early was Daniel Gafford, who shot a perfect 7-of-7 in the first half, catching the ball in the middle of the floor repeatedly after Jokic blitzed Doncic in the pick and roll. Denver’s weak side rotations were poor, and Aaron Gordon’s absence was truly felt early on.

Fortunately, the Nuggets offense never truly slowed down outside of stretches with the bench in both halves. Denver didn’t do a great job of keeping Porter involved in those moments though, and that hurt the flow offensively. This wasn’t a great Russell Westbrook game overall, but after two early turnovers, he didn’t commit another and set the table well enough to keep Denver going without Jokic.

Watson also shot 4-of-4 from three tonight. He continues to play with confidence, shining in a larger role for the Nuggets next to Jokic.

Jamal Murray also staggered in the fourth quarter and had seven quick points. It wasn’t a great Murray game overall with three missed free throws and some bad defensive possessions, but he had 18 points and six assists, including a really impressive pass over his head to Jokic for a wide open three.

Overall, it wasn’t Denver’s best performance of the season, but to weather the storm of shotmaking from Kyrie and Luka was very impressive.

So, the Nuggets are now 7-3 after 10 games. They went 5-0 during this home stand and have effectively turned things around following an 0-2 start.

Michael Malone acknowledges that things aren’t perfect though. He wants the defense to improve. He wants the Nuggets to continue working through the turnover issues.

He also wants to see Jokic’s minutes go down as much as the rest of the fan base does.

“I will say this: I don’t know how sustainable it is to play Nikola 38 to 40 minutes every night. Let’s be honest: we’re 10 games in. We’re 7-1 in our last 8. That is great, but we also have to find ways to continue to…find some other options off of our bench [at backup center].”

Malone joked around pregame that he would play him 48 minutes if he could, but he understands the long game just as much as anyone. He knows that the minutes are untenable, but in order to give them to one player or another, they have to deserve the opportunity. Dario Saric was the backup five in the first five games. DeAndre Jordan was the backup in the next two. Zeke Nnaji has been the guy in the last three.

Without Aaron Gordon, the bench has shortened considerably. Watson played 40 minutes in the starting lineup and Hunter Tyson didn’t get off the bench. When Gordon comes back, it’s possible the Nuggets could use him more frequently at backup five if they don’t believe in the other options.

Fortunately, the Nuggets have four days off after this home stand. The players are excited for the rest, and I’m sure the coaching staff is excited for some practice time. I expect them to work back in Dario Saric at backup center in the coming days.

For now though, it’s important Denver enjoys this. They’ve crossed their first hurdle of the NBA season effectively and should be proud of the way they bounced back.

Final Rotations