The Denver Nuggets dominance on the second night of back to backs continues. Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray & Michael Porter Jr. looked like a full fledged star trio, combining for 97 points on their way to a blowout of the Detroit Pistons. The Nuggets built a big lead in the third quarter before the Pistons bench unit mounted a rally in the fourth that came up short. There still wasn’t a lot to speak of on the defensive end but Denver scores 134 points and that’s more than enough tonight to get a victory.

Jokic opened the game knocking down threes to get Denver the lead. Denver had it working on offense but the Pistons kept pace and didn’t let the Nuggets get any breathing room. They spread the ball around their starters and tied the game back up midway through the quarter. The game started to slow down a bit with Denver continuing to cling to a two point lead. The Nuggets missed some good looks from three which let Detroit get in front. Murray and Jokic stayed consistent for the Nuggets to keep them neck and neck with the Pistons down the stretch while former Nugget Malik Beasley had his shot going. After Jokic buried another three and then finished a pocket pass from Murray the game was tied once again with a minute to go. The Pistons got one more bucket and led 38-36 at the horn.

Both teams had a tough time generating points to start the second quarter. Denver’s offense looked disjointed. They had Murray out there with the bench but weren’t looking to generate opportunities for him. Still, they got a couple of hustle buckets and that was enough to tie the game up again with about eight minutes left in the half. The Pistons strung together some baskets, highlighted by Ausar Thompson crossing up Peyton Watson and then posterizing him, which made Michael Malone take a timeout to get Jokic back in with the Nuggets down four. Denver tightened up their defense and came back, once again relying on Jokic and Murray. The Porter started getting into the action in the final minutes to build the lead back up for the Nuggets. They went into the locker room up 67-61.

Denver was a bit sloppy to open the second half but they still had their stars to keep them moving forward. They stayed in front by a couple of possessions but still couldn’t blow the game open. Porter Jr. took his turn being the focal point of the offense and finally started pushing the lead up. It got into double digits before things got a bit chippy, or at least they did with Russell Westbrook. He was upset with a charge call and responded by getting into Cade Cunningham to draw an offensive foul and then got Isaiah Stewart to say something that drew a technical foul. In the second half of the quarter things got very sloppy on both ends and there wasn’t a lot of field goals but plenty of fouls. Eventually Denver got it together and went on an 8-0 run to put themselves up comfortably. Murray closed out the quarter strong and Denver headed into the fourth up 114-89.

The energy looked a little lacking to start the fourth for Denver. They settled for too many jumpers and only scored one point in the first two minutes. The Pistons were already playing their deep bench and didn’t do much with the opportunity but did start to chip away at the lead a bit which got a timeout from Malone to refocus the troops. It didn’t help much and a minute later he was calling another one with Denver’s lead down to 17. Detroit kept playing with energy and the Nuggets lead kept dwindling away. With five minutes left in the fourth it was down to eleven even though Jokic and most of the starters were back in. Porter seemed to be the one who had a big three just when the Nuggets needed it the most and stopped the bleeding enough to make time a factor. The Pistons still refused to go away. They hit back to back threes to get back within seven before Jokic calmed things down. Eventually Detroit ran out of time and the Nuggets got enough buckets to win with breathing room. Final score Denver 134, Detroit 121.

Give Jamal Murray his flowers

Dec 28, 2024; Denver, Colorado, USA; Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray (27) shoots past Detroit Pistons center Jalen Duren (0) and forward Ausar Thompson (9) in the second quarter at Ball Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

There was a lot of talk about Murray’s play to start the season. It seemed like nearly everyone was ready to write him off, declare his contract the worst in the history of the franchise and blame him for the what was surely the Nuggets imminent demise. You’ll be shocked to find out that didn’t happen. Jamal has been every bit the star player Denver needs him to be in December and has put together a great stretch over the past two weeks. Tonight he finishes with 34 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocks. Still needs to get his legs under him 100% defensively and considering he’s still being listed on the injury report with a sprained ankle it’s safe to assume he’s not quite 100% but man is he starting to look really good.

Denver is simply a bad defensive team

The Nuggets defensive issues are a constant problem this season. Some of it is personnel. There’s not a dominant rim protector on this squad, Peyton Watson and Christian Braun have yet to blossom into premier perimeter defenders, Aaron Gordon has been constantly hampered with a calf injury. A lot of it simply remains effort though. There were spurts tonight where you could see the Nuggets find their focus and start to clamp down, particularly in the second & third quarter, but the start of the fourth was a prime example of the opposite scenario. The Nuggets were clearly content with their big lead and sleep walked through half a quarter to almost squander it away. Coach was none too happy in his post game presser and pointed directly to the fourth as the source of his disappointment. He went as far as to say maybe he needs to find a different group of guys to go out there and give consistent effort. You take the win no doubt, but Denver has got to figure out how to get stops and changes could be on the way.