After a demoralizing loss in Indiana against the Pacers, the Denver Nuggets headed back to the Mile High City looking to get back on track.

In their path stood the Detroit Pistons, who entered their matchup with the Nuggets as the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference, but with just one and a half games separating them from the ninth seed. Detroit was playing for their playoff lives and came in with a bit of desperation after losing three of their last four games.

Denver, despite doing their best to five away their win, beat the Pistons 95-92 for their 31st home win and, most importantly, their 50th win of the 2018-19 season. This is the first time the Nuggets have reached 50 wins since the 2012-13 season when they won a franchise-best 57 wins.

Denver was clicking from the moment the opening tip had been tossed up. On defense, Denver forced Detroit into missing ten-straight shots. Jokic was contesting every shot he could, Gary Harris was a pest on the perimeter, Jokic was playing great positional defense, and all of that culminated into a fantastic start defensively. The one issue Denver had in the first quarter was the 10 offensive rebounds they allowed. Somehow, Denver kept Detroit from converting their second — and sometimes third — chances, but allowing that many extra possessions is not a recipe for success.

Offensively, Denver was as loose and joyful as they have been all year. Not all of their shots fell, but Denver was effortlessly creating good looks against an obviously exhausted Pistons squad. No plays epitomized the fun that the Nuggets were having offensively than this sequence from Nikola Jokic.

At the end of the first quarter, Denver held the Pistons to just nine points, the second-lowest scoring quarter in the league in the 2018-19 season, and went on to lead 27-9 after the first 12 minutes.

The second quarter was a very different experience. The Pistons began to execute at a much higher level as Denver’s offense became stagnant. That combination allowed the Pistons to scrape and claw their way within 10 points of the Nuggets, but that boost was short-lived as Denver’s starters returned and once again took control of the game.

Despite allowing the Pistons to get within 10 points, the Nuggets stormed back behind the hot-shooting of Jamal Murray and the ever-consistent production of Jokic. Those two combined to score 42 points in the first half as they led Denver to a 66-39 lead after two quarters.

The third quarter began the same way the second quarter did — with the Pistons making a mini-run and Nuggets head coach Michael Malone getting infuriated with his team for not giving anywhere near maximum effort. There were two separate timeouts that Malone took out of pure anger and so he can get his team back to playing the right way despite their sizable lead.

Still, despite the Pistons holding Denver to only 15 points in the third quarter, the Nuggets carried an 81-62 lead into the fourth quarter. They were coasting their way to yet another home victory.

The fourth quarter, which should have never become interesting, suddenly was as the Pistons closed to within one point with 9.1 seconds left in regulation. Suddenly, the Nuggets, who’s effort fell off a cliff, found themselves in a dogfight with a Pistons team playing for their playoff lives.

Malone’s frustration was evident on his face throughout the entire second half which is to be expected being that he was imploring his team to play with effort for 48 minutes for the last 48 hours.

Denver only scored 29 points in the second half, but their defense saved the day as they held the Pistons to just 92 points all night on 35.3 percent shooting from the field. Denver did not play their best basketball, but they still came away with a 95-92 win at home over Detroit to move to 31-6 at home and a 50-23 record overall.

Once the game had concluded, the Nuggets were led by Murray who racked up 33 points on 12-of-19 shooting from the field and 3-of-7 from 3-point distance. Jokic finished with 23 points, 15 rebounds, and just two assists. Blake Griffin had 29 points, 15 rebounds, and five assists.

Next, the Nuggets will head back out on the road for what is arguably the toughest back to back of the season. First, they will take on the Houston Rockets in Houston which is then followed up by a divisional matchup with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Both of those games will tip off at 6pm MST on Thursday and Friday respectively.