The Denver Nuggets and the Houston Rockets entered Wednesday’s game at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas as the owners of the two highest scoring outputs of the young NBA season. This game was expected to be a shootout of epic proportions, but that is not exactly how the first quarter — or the entire game — played out as the Nuggets fell to the Rockets by a score of 125-95.
Houston missed their first six field goal attempts of the game, including two free-throw attempts, and failed to score until roughly four minutes had passed. Denver failed to capitalize on the opportunity though, as they were also ice cold to start the game. Halfway through the first quarter, Houston’s offense began to lift off and they left the Nuggets — and their offense — down on the earth’s surface.
The Nuggets, who were without one of their best players in Paul Millsap, went small to start the game. Will Barton was tabbed as the starting small forward while Wilson Chandler filled in for Millsap as the starting power forward. It was an unusual lineup for Denver, and they failed to produce any offense from it in the first quarter.
The Nuggets shot a ghastly 1-12 from three-point distance in the first 12 minutes of the game. In fact, the Nuggets hit just six of their first-quarter field-goal attempts. By the time the first quarter had ended, Denver was down 36-17.
The second quarter didn’t look much different. Houston — led by MVP-candidate James Harden who finished the first half with 19 points, eight assists, six rebounds and +30 — shot a remarkable 68.4 percent from the field in the first half. In typical Houston fashion, 14 of their 38 first half shot attempts came from three-point distance and connected on eight of them.
There was a brief injury scare as Jokic dropped to the ground in pain and clutched at his right ankle during the second quarter. He would leave the game, but would return later, and looked to be at full strength.
At one point in the second quarter, Houston led by as many as 37 points. They entered halftime with a 35-point lead and had an obnoxious 75 points to Denver’s measly 40 first-half points.
Despite the poor first half and the absence of one of the Nuggets’ most important players, Denver looked inspired to start the second half. Jokic led by example with high energy on both ends of the floor. The Nuggets went on a 12-0 run to start the second half and they were able to trim the lead down to 21 at one point, but they had dug themselves too deep of a hole to climb out of. Houston weathered the brief storm and won this game by 30 points — an absolute annihilation.
Following the loss, the Nuggets drop to 10-8 on the year. The Nuggets will travel back to Denver tomorrow as they get ready to host the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night looking to regain their footing within the comfortable confines of the Pepsi Center in downtown Denver.