The Denver Nuggets once again took a bit of time to get into the game, but once they did, they won their sixth game in a row.
The Nuggets defeated the Golden State Warriors 116-93 in one of their more well-rounded victories of the season. Though Aaron Gordon missed the game and Denver suffered several injuries throughout the night, that didn’t stop the Nuggets from outscoring the Warriors 70-40 in the second half. It was a dominant performance that occurred when the Nuggets flipped the switch and bought into a high effort and execution level on both ends of the floor.
“I just think we got a little more physical. We were just taking open threes, we stopped turning the ball over,” Bruce Brown shared postgame. “We just started doing the simple things, not letting them get backdoor cuts, and then on the offensive end just playing our game.”
Nikola Jokic finished the game with 25 points, 15 rebounds, and 8 assists in 36 minutes. His shooting efficiency was just 50%, but that’s because Draymond Green and the Warriors did a nice job guarding him and challenging his shots well in the first quarter. It took a while for Jokic to find a rhythm on either end of the floor, and that put the Nuggets ar an early disadvantage.
But once Jokic locked in, the Nuggets improved around him tremendously. The Nuggets MVP played one of his quarters of the entire season during the third quarter, controlling every aspect of the game, fighting through contact, setting the table for teammates, and hitting some threes at important points. The Nuggets won the quarter 40-21 with Jokic playing the entire way through, and he was the biggest reason for the stability.
Of course, he wasn’t the only one to play well. Jamal Murray had an efficient 20 points and 7 assists. Tim Hardaway Jr. filled up the boxscore with 16 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals while shooting 4-of-8 from three. Bruce Brown had 15 points to go with 2 steals of his own, shooting 3-of-4 from three and making some important ones both in the corner and a deep three to beat the shot clock buzzer.
Denver’s defense was the biggest turning point for sure though. Allowing just 40 points in a half is a big deal. The Nuggets have done that sparingly this season, and they took advantage with a strong offensive effort in the second half too.
The good thing about Denver’s defense: if you allow just 93 points, it means you had a great defensive game, not just a half.
“We always know how to score. We didn’t shoot the ball well in the first half,” David Adelman said of Denver’s offensive struggles and how rare they are. “It’s good to have a game like that that you win where you can look back at and see the importance of playing hard defensively in the first half.”
“It was a good response by us,” Nikola Jokic declared. “I think the first half was not that bad, maybe we couldn’t make shots. I don’t know, it’s part of the game. The second half was much better, the intensity, the energy, the running, the shooting.”
Of course, this game wasn’t without its issues. Despite winning by 20+ points, the Nuggets were missing Aaron Gordon with a left calf issue that emerged early that day. Adelman shared pregame that this was not something that was previously nagging Gordon, but Denver was understandably cautious.
But to watch Peyton Watson sustain real foul trouble as the starter in his place and to then see all three of Cam Johnson, Spencer Jones, and Zeke Nnaji suffer in-game injuries that knocked them out of the game was pretty jarring. All of the absences for Denver’s power forwards seem to happen at exactly the same time.
Adelman, laughing about it ironically postgame, didn’t mince words.
“I mean, there was a timeout where I just looked back at my day and I woke up this morning thinking Aaron Gordon was going to start. He didn’t. Spence [Jones] goes out, Cam [Johnson] goes out. I thought Zeke [Nnaji] was really impactful and then he went out. So, I give the smalls a lot of credit.”
The Nuggets have always been forced to adapt to a litany of injuries this season, and tonight was no different. Adelman played some smaller lineups in the second half, but the guards handled the challenge of dealing with interior defense really well. Hardaway, Brown, and Julian Strawther all handled those assignments well in the second half.
In addition Jonas Valanciunas got into the game for the first time in a long time. He played just five minutes, but he had a positive impact as a screener, a rebounder, and a paint presence. The Nuggets won his minutes, and they didn’t have to bring back Jokic too terribly soon. It was good to see Valanciunas stay ready and make an immediate impact. It likely won’t be his last opportunity to end the year.
The Nuggets have now won six games in a row. It’s their longest winning streak since the middle of December, and it shows Denver’s ability to focus up enough to take advantage of a portion of their schedule that has been weaker. They had to show up now, and they most certainly did.
Now, they have a couple days off before heading out for a one-game road trip against the Utah Jazz.
