The Denver Nuggets were coming off of their worst performance of the season against the Memphis Grizzlies — a game in which Nikola Jokic took just one singular shot all night — and they were looking to regain some positive momentum. The Brooklyn Nets were the Nuggets next challenge in their pursuit of their 10th win of the very young 2018-19 NBA season.
By the time the final buzzer sounded, Nikola Jokic had carried Denver as far as he could, but the Nuggets lost to the Nets by a score of 112-110.
The first quarter started and finished out as a blowout. The Nets were raining down hellfire from three-point distance and the Nuggets defense was struggling to run them off of the line. The Nets finished the first quarter with seven made threes which gave them a 34-24 lead after the first 12 minutes of the game. Thankfully, Jokic’s aggression returned and he was able to take, and make, five shots in the first frame. Even with Jokic’s offensive aggression revitalized, Denver failed to take care of the ball which led to eight first-quarter turnovers which is a large reason for Denver’s deficit.
Denver was able to chip away at the Nets lead throughout the second quarter thanks to strong play from none other than Jokic who went on a warpath as if he was trying to prove a point.
After four games of fans, media, and many others critiquing Jokic for his lack of shots taken and his passive attitude with the ball in his hands, he decided to come out and prove all of his doubters wrong. In the first half, Jokic took a shot seemingly every time he had the ball in his hands and put up 20 points on 9-12 shooting over the first two quarters of the game. He was hellbent on destroying anyone in his path and to prove that he is much more than just a facilitator. Jokic did not have a single assist in the first half, but his scoring output more than made up for it.
By the time the second quarter ended, Denver’s deficit fell to just eight points by a score of 55-47 thanks to Jokic’s dominance down low.
Jokic continued to just annihilate anyone in his path for the entire third quarter. Again, it seemed like Jokic took the talk about him not taking shots personally and he came into his matchup against the Nets with a vendetta. Thanks to Jokic’s incredible scoring ability, Denver’s deficit fell to six points. By the end of the third quarter, the score was 82-76 in favor of Brooklyn, but Jokic had 34 points and 18 rebounds by the time the buzzer sounded.
It was the Nuggets bench who began to carve out some positive momentum for Denver as the fourth quarter started. They were able to completely dissolve Brooklyn’s lead and give Denver a lead of their own before Jokic even re-entered the game thanks to Monte Morris, who finished with 15 points, six rebounds, and two assists.
From the moment Jokic checked back in, he continued trying to attack each and every possession. When he wasn’t hitting shots, he was getting to the free-throw line whenever he wanted to. The Nets had absolutely no answer for him as he was able to tie his career-high in rebounds (21) while scoring 37 points.
The game continued to be a back-and-forth affair as both Brooklyn and Denver continued to trade off leading the game. By the final buzzer, the Nets were able to scrape out a tough win in the Pepsi Center and handed the Nuggets their first home loss of the season after Caris LeVert converted a floater in isolation against Gary Harris.
Jokic was by far the Nuggets best player of the night as he finished with 37 points on 14-22 shooting to go with 21 rebounds, three assists while committing six turnovers.
Next, the Nuggets will stay in Denver and host the surging Milwaukee Bucks at the Pepsi Center on Sunday afternoon at 6pm MST.