The Denver Nuggets won 144-119 over the New Orleans Pelicans thanks in large part to a career night from Michael Porter Jr. He tied his career-high with 39 points, and added 12 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals. Nikola Jokic added 38 points but came up 2 rebounds short of a triple-double, while Christian Braun added 23 points and 8 boards of his own. Aaron Gordon had only 7 points but led all players with 12 assists. Zion Williamson had 28 points for the Pelicans and Trey Murphy III added 25, but the Pelicans just couldn’t keep up with Denver’s offensive output in this game for all 4 quarters.
Game Flow
Zion Williamson scored the first bucket after a couple of Denver misses, then Jamal Murray’s paint finish was answered by a Yves Missi hook. Michael Porter buried a three, then exchanged dunks with Missi. New Orleans missed a close shot, Denver missed a pair of threes, and then CJ McCollum’s banked jumper was overshadowed by another MPJ three to make it 10-8 Denver early. Christian Braun got transition free throws, Nikola Jokic had his shot blocked, and New Orleans kept attacking the paint for finishes. Denver responded with MPJ free throws and paint buckets of their own from Jokic and Braun, as well as another MPJ three to get to a 21-18 Denver lead. A couple of Pelicans’ threes gave them the lead, and after a slow start Jokic hit a three of his own. A Zeke Nnaji steal led to a Strawther three, and then Jokic hit another one from deep. Pelicans answered from deep, Jokic and Zion exchanged buckets, but poor execution at the end of the quarter and Julian Strawther fouling on a three point shooter left Denver tied with New Orleans after one, 36-36.
The Pelicans kept driving and finishing to start the second quarter, but Murray and MPJ both made their paint shots as well. Zion had another dunk, answered by an MPJ 20-footer. The Pelicans got their 26th point in the paint already with a back-handed finish, Aaron Gordon missed a finish at the rim, but then assisted Strawther on a corner three to make it 45-44 Denver. MPJ missed a three but had a great pass to DeAndre Jordan for a dunk, and then Mike sprinted out in transition for a finish. New Orleans answered with another deep shot as the Nuggets struggled to defend both the arc and the rim, but Jokic came back in and got a push shot. Strawther absolutely bricked a three while New Orleans made their 6th three, but Jokic’s free throws put Denver back up 56-55. Missi and Trey Murphy had back-to-back dunks and extended their lead to 4, Braun and MPJ had some nice buckets to tie it, and a CB dunk on a Jokic pass gave Denver the lead back. Zion hit a one-legged pull-up, Jokic made a transition hook, then Porter had a steal but blew the transition finish. Murphy had a finish and a three around a Jokic runner and then a drive from Murray in the waning seconds tied it up again at 68 heading into halftime.
CJ McCollum hit a tough jumper and then a layup off a Jamal Murray turnover. Braun had free throws and then a transition bucket from AG, and then Gordon had another steal that let him get the pass to MPJ for the finish. Third steal in a row by Denver led to a Jokic bucket off another AG pass, and then MPJ found Braun for a corner three that made it 79-72 Denver. A lucky deflection fell into Braun’s hands for a finish, then Braun got blocked the next time down while Murphy hit a corner three for the Pelicans to end a 13-0 Nuggets run. MPJ then dunked it the other way off a screen, made a bad turnover but then helped force a turnover the other way on Murphy. Jamal had a layup and then another steal turned into an MPJ transition three to give Denver an 11-point lead. Jordan Hawkins made a deep shot for Portland to try and stem the tide, but MPJ then cut to the basket on a Jokic-assisted layup and buried another 3 as he was on absolute fire. Aaron Gordon had his first bucket off the night on a corner 3, Murphy and Braun exchanged buckets, MPJ missed a turnaround but then forced a steal that became a Jokic finish to make it 100-84 Denver with 4 minutes left in the quarter. Strawther missed a push shot, the Pelicans hit a three, and Jalen Pickett exchanged buckets with Murphy. Jokic made a floater, Nnaji tipped home an MPJ miss, and a great Strawther finish followed by a Jokic 3 left Denver up 113-95 after three quarters.
Zion Williamson had a bucket and some free throws after Strawther was called for an offensive foul for the crime of making a three-pointer, but AG had a strong finish at the rim and DeAndre had a couple of nice rebounds. Murray made a stepback on a Gordon assist, then AG got himself to the line the next time down. Gordon set up Hunter Tyson for a nice three, while Zion kept scoring to try to keep New Orleans in it. A Hawkins pull up cut Denver’s lead to 15 and forced a timeout, but Jokic came back in and canned a three. Pickett missed one, Strawther had a wonderful finish answered by Zion, and then Jokic bullied his way to the bucket to put the Nuggets back up 20, 129-109. After a couple of misses, the Nuggets got a transition dunk for MPK leaving him two points short of his career-high. Jokic hit a three – unleashing a barrage of them tonight – and Porter missed a 3 but made tip-in off a Braun shot to tie his record. He didn’t get 40 but he and Jokic did pace Denver’s win as the Nuggets took the game 144-119.
Final Thoughts
– This version of MPJ can take the Nuggets far in the playoffs. Denver will always have its two-man game, but if teams want to blitz Murray off of every pick-and-roll they need someone to pick up the scoring slack. These past two games, MPJ has been making his case that if they feed him he will deliver. He had 23 shots tonight and 22 last game, scoring 35+ in both. That alone warps the court to allow Jokic and Murray to do what they want, and opens passing lanes for others like Aaron Gordon, who had 12 assists of his own tonight. An aggressive MPJ on both ends – he walled off guards defensively on multiple occasions and hit the boards hard on that side of the ball – helps Denver set its attitude and aggression to the correct levels. The Nuggets came out somewhat slow and MPJ helped get the offense right early, but that third quarter was tremendous and Mike sparked a lot of that run. Now that concerns about being traded should be gone, hopefully Porter can settle into this on the nights his number is called and his shot-making and finishing make Denver’s offense frankly terrifying.
– Defense hasn’t fully recovered yet, but the third quarter had some nice signs. It’s tough for Denver – they haven’t had much continuity all season and that pattern unfortunately remains unbroken with both Russell Westbrook and Peyton Watson relegated to street clothes again (and likely for a little while). But Aaron Gordon helped turn the tide in that third with some great passing off of turnovers as the Nuggets got into the Pelicans more and got their hands into passing lanes. The forced turnovers were nice to see as Denver has been a hands-down defense too often this year. If they can get those turnovers (as well as rebounds) and run in transition they can flip the scoreboard in very short order. Denver is not going to defend for four quarters – it’s just not in them – but they need the practice now of flipping that switch and locking in for half-a-quarter at a time to really bully teams instead of just going shot for shot with them until the closing minutes. Applying pressure when it matters is how they broke teams on their way to a title, and they need to practice using those muscles against as they head into the home stretch of the season. Tonight wasn’t the toughest opponent, but they had a chance for the practice and they took it.
