Jamal Murray, Gary Harris, Monte Morris, Torrey Craig, Nikola Jokic, P.J. Dozier, and Vlatko Cancar. That was all the Denver Nuggets needed on Wednesday night when facing an extremely tough road game against the Utah Jazz. Had the Nuggets been fully healthy, this would have still been a challenging game, especially considering the Nuggets’ lack of recent success against the Jazz in Utah. However, the Nuggets limped into the matchup, as several of the players, including Mason Plumlee, Will Barton, Paul Millsap, Jerami Grant, and Michael Porter Jr., were all dealing with injuries. To make matters worse, the Nuggets had just completed a trade earlier that day involving Juancho Hernangomez, Malik Beasley, and Jarred Vanderbilt, and the players they got in return were not yet available.
The result? The Nuggets had SEVEN active players to compete against the Jazz, a team that had a 32-17 record prior to the game and were 18-4 at home. Nobody gave the Nuggets a chance to win, and for good reason. Did I mention that the Nuggets were coming off a back-to-back, so the players that they did have were playing with tired legs?
It’s safe to say everything was stacked against the Nuggets that night, but they were somehow able to come away with a 98-95 victory, lead by Nikola Jokic (30 pounds, 21 rebounds and 10 assists) and Jamal Murray (31 points and 4 assists). It was such an impressive performance that Altitude’s Scott Hastings even wondered after the game whether it was the best regular season victory that he’s seen from the team.
After the game, Jamal Murray posted a picture on Instagram of the seven players that got it done that night.
Whatever happens the rest of the season, I think it’s safe to say this will go down as one of the most memorable wins that this team has achieved. Now let’s just hope the Nuggets get healthy and reinforcement arrives, so that these seven players can be relieved of their heavy responsibilities.
