The Denver Nuggets went into Miami and played 4 good quarters to take the win over the Miami Heat 133-113. Jamal Murray had 30 points, 7 rebounds and 8 assists as he paced the first half scoring for Denver, while Nikola Jokic had a 24 / 12/ 10 triple double in just three quarters of play. It was a full team effort though, with seven Nuggets in double-figures including 16 from Aaron Gordon off the bench and 14 from Julian Strawther. Tyler Herro led the Heat with 22 points, but the conclusion never really felt in doubt all game as the Heat just couldn’t get the score close enough to test Denver in any way. Whether the vibes were off because of Jimmy Butler’s return or not, Jimmy’s 18 points were nowhere close to enough to overcome Denver’s continued domination of this matchup.
Game Flow
Jimmy Butler turned the ball over to open the game, Jamal Murray rattled out a 3, MPJ rattled out a long 2, and Bam Adebayo finally dunked a finish for the first points for either team. Jamal Murray drained a Nikola-assisted 3, Tyler Herro made a nice floater for the Heat, and Jamal got to the free throw line for a pair. The teams exchanged misses until Jokic took and made his first shot of the game, and then MPJ made his next three pointer for a 10-4 Nuggets lead. Butler dunked again, Murray had a nice driving finish, and Christian Braun dunked on a back cut. Jokic had an unforced turnover after a Herro drive, but then assisted Westbrook from under the basket on a 3 to make it 17-8. Denver’s defensive recoveries and switches were on point early, keeping the Heat off balance and off the boards as well. Westbrook finished a nice drive but Herro answered with a 27-foot make. Murray and Bam exchanged paint buckets. Adebayo got free throws and Jaime Jaquez Jr. made a jumper, while Jokic had his hook shot answered by Butler’s layup. Jokic made a layup of his own (still no jumpers attempted) and Westbrook made a three. Jokic had a transition layup but Denver missed shots down the stretch and Nikola Jovic for Heat made a pair of buckets. Thanks to a big quarter from the starters though the Nuggets finished up 30-24 after one.
Julian Strawther had a nice 3 to open the second quarter, and Aaron Gordon answered Kel’el Ware’s layup with a bank shot a free throw make. Herro banked in a floater on a drive but AG finally made a 3 after a couple of earlier misses. Strawther and MPJ both missed threes, Jovic made a layup for Miami, and then both Nuggets missed threes again. Terry Rozier’s traditional three-point play closed the gap to 39-33 Denver before AG finished a Murray assist with a tough paint finish. Jaquez and Braun both scored in the paint, and Murray made a push shot after blowing an oop to DeAndre Jordan. AG made free throws, Jaquez bounced in a three, and Braun finished a transition bucket for a 49-38 Denver lead. Butler and Bam both finished in the paint to force a Nuggets timeout, after which Murray somehow hit a one-legged turnaround fadeaway, then grabbed a defensive rebound on the other end. Jokic had a beautiful feed to a cutting Braun for a finish, Herro banked in a corner 3, and Murray answered with one of his own. Murray made a nice 12-foot jumper to put Denver back up double digits, Butler had some Miami free throws, but Murray answered with a really nice drive and paint finish. Robinson had a layup, Watson dunked it home for Denver, Adebayo had an oop finish over Jokic and Jokic got him back with a paint floater. Herro and Jokic traded paint buckets – Jokic had a hook shot, still not taking actual jumpers – and then Jokic cleaned and started a Watson fastbreak that ended in free throws and took Denver into the half up 67-55.
MPJ got himself to the line to start the third, then grabbed a rebound as Murray made a pair of buckets sandwiching a Robinson three, one of them thanks to a Bam goaltend. Butler’s jumper cut the lead to 13, MPJ had a stepback airball, and Bam tipped in a Butler miss. Jokic got to the line for 2 and made both, finally showing his shooting form with the protective arm sleeve on, then grabbed a board and assisted an MPJ three. Miami seemingly decided to foul rather than allowing Murray and the rest of the Nuggets just to shoot, but Jokic screened MPJ open and Mike hit another long jumper. Bam and Butler both finished in close though to close the score back to 80-68 as Denver’s transition defense slacked a little. MPJ and Herro both missed threes, but Herro finished going to the rim in transition again. Jokic had a traditional three-point play after getting hit in the back of the head by Bam, Robinson answered with a real 3, Murray missed a pair of shots, and the Heat were just playing a little harder as they closed to within 9. Braun and Jokic both made layups for Denver after a timeout and Westbrook’s transition 3 made it 91-75 Denver to restore order. Jovic answered from deep for Miami, while Jokic was fouled with no whistle on the other end. He got the call the next time down and got to the line, and then threw a beautiful pass to Watson who could not guide in the assist attempt. The Heat kept pushing as Denver missed shots down the stretch again and cut the lead down from 16 to 9, but a wonderful Jokic assist to AG for a dunk and a last second deep three from Jokic made it 98-86 after three quarters.
Aaron Gordon forced his way to the line to start the final frame, and DeAndre Jordan finished a transition layup. Ware made a jumper for Miami that Strawther answered on a drive he was fouled on. Murray missed his 6th shot in a row but grabbed the rebound and assisted a Jordan dunk as Denver went up 106-88. Strawther hit a three off a nice swing pass from Porter, but Denver failed in transition the next time, then Porter missed again the next time down and Miami scored by running back at Denver both times. After a timeout, Porter hit another 3 then grabbed a defensive board, but missed a free-throw-level jumper. AG had a beautiful bounce feed to Murray on a baseline cut for a finish, but Rozier hit a 3 for Miami. Gordon powered up a bank finish in the paint, but Rozier got fouled on a three point shot and made all his free throws. Jordan’s finish put Denver up 20 at 118-98 but Herro had a couple of nice buckets in response. Christian Braun made a push shot from the edge of the paint, then missed a finish with a shot that went the whole way around the rim. Strawther bounced in a three through and Nikola Jokic never had to come back in for the fourth as garbage time was in full swing after Murray’s shot over Herro went in for his 30th point. Hunter Tyson and Julian Strawther both his threes in the closing minutes as Denver went to South Beach and wrapped up a blowout win 133-113.
Final Thoughts
– Early on, sharing is caring. The Nuggets had 19 assists in the first half, and were always getting the ball to one another for open shots or close-in finishes. They also shared the load on defense, giving up zero first half offensive rebounds to the Heat and running hard in transition after every stop. Moving the ball from good shot to great shot really produced results, and even though Miami got some favorable bounces while the Nuggets missed some open attempts it didn’t hurt Denver.
The Nuggets had great process to start the game on both ends, trusting each other to be where they needed to be, and it paid off. The defense wasn’t there to the same extent in the third quarter, giving up 31, but they also scored 31 and had 7 more assists. The Nuggets picked it up in the fourth quarter though after finishing the third strong, and the tone they set in the first quarter was still there in the final one. Denver is good enough to overcome lapses, and certainly games like this shape up much better for them than the ones where they wait until after halftime to get engaged. More games like this please, where the whole rotation shows up from the jump.
– Jamal Murray is cooking. After his 45 point outburst earlier in the week, Jamal came right back with 20 points in the first half against Miami and the scores were from everywhere. Miami’s defenders could not contain him either outside the arc or on his way to the bucket, and he got whatever he wanted. He also helped Denver’s good early three-point defense where they held the Heat to 4-of-18 from deep through the first 2 quarters. When Jamal is capable of recovering on defense and handling his switches it really cleans up a lot of the issues Denver has had with containing ball-handlers and denying drives, and frees Jokic up to grab boards and start fast-breaks. He went cold in the second half missing 6 shots in a row, but he kept rebounding and organizing Denver’s offense without Jokic in the final frame.
For first several weeks of the season I had to keep explaining to people that when Murray was healthier he would demonstrate he still has the juice – it’s a long road back from shin splints and lower body injuries. Now in January he is showing he is still that guy that makes Denver competitive not just in the regular season but in the coming postseason as well. Now if only Michael Malone would stop playing him the most minutes of any Nugget, maybe he can get to those playoffs healthy too.
