The Denver Nuggets came into Friday night looking to be a spoiler to the Detroit Pistons big win streak. It certainly looked like Detroit was content to ride the coat tails of their streak and the Nuggets took advantage. Nikola Jokic had yet another triple double while Michael Porter Jr. scored with ease and the Nuggets took control of the road contest. No one from the Pistons was able to find consistency and Malik Beasley ended up as the top scorer for Detroit with just sixteen points. Denver gets a quality W on the road and improves to 39-21 with a 134-119 victory.

The Nuggets didn’t get off to a great start. They didn’t have field goal for the first two minutes and fifteen seconds and looked asleep on defense which gave Detroit a small lead. Zeke Nnaji gave some life to Denver and Christian Braun was hitting threes so the Nuggets rallied back. Braun’s three point shooting was contagious and Denver’s outside shooting led an 18-0 run. The Nuggets pushed their advantage up near twenty before Detroit finally put up some resistance. They mounted a rally of their own and pulled back within eleven. Denver responded to close the quarter strong and maintain their lead. They finished the first up 39-31.

The Pistons went on a run to start to second quarter and pulled within three. Denver regained control but the game remained much tighter than it was for most of the first. Detroit kept pushing and when they pulled within one Michael Malone called timeout and got Nikola back into the game. At that point the Nuggets were clinging to a slim lead but got some help from Braun on the fast break and got back ahead by a couple of baskets. Denver couldn’t find a way to pull away from the Pistons but maintained control of the game through the meat of the quarter. A four point play for Detroit turned the tide late in the half but a clear foul from Isaiah Stewart that he complained about and earned himself a technical resulted in three free throws for Nikola which killed any Detroit momentum. At the end of the half Denver led 68-63.

Denver applied the pressure to start the second half, Murray led a run to push the lead back up to double digits. Nnaji also played well and continued to make the most of his minutes. The Nuggets run kept getting longer and their lead kept getting bigger. By the halfway point of the third the lead had stretched to twenty points. The Nuggets kept putting it to the Pistons and the lead stayed around twenty. The close to the third wasn’t as strong as the rest of the quarter though and that let the Pistons chip away a little bit. Denver wasn’t going to relent their big lead entirely and responded with a strong close to the quarter which left them leading 107-87 after three.

The fourth quarter opened with both team hitting shots. Denver’s bench group was able to get points and didn’t let the big advantage get smaller. The lead stayed near twenty early in the fourth but Malone still elected to bring Jokic back in just after the seven minute mark. Nikola orchestrated as he always does and didn’t give Detroit an opportunity to do any damage. He creeped closer and closer to a 20-20-20 game and time became a factor for the Pistons. With the Nuggets still up 20+ the Pistons relented near the four minute mark and emptied their bench. The Nuggets followed with their deep bench shortly thereafter and it as on to garbage time. Denver secures a solid road win 134-119.