First Quarter

The first time that Kentavious Caldwell-Pope played against the Nuggets after leaving them. The first time the Nuggets visited him. There were some personal stakes in this game, and you could feel it in the crowd a little bit. Malone and KCP hugged it out before the game, and it’s clear there’s no bad blood with anyone there.

There was something that was poor though to start this game. That being the offense. Not for the Magic, in the first few minutes they scored 8 points, but they managed to hold the Nuggets to just 3 points in the same amount of minutes. It was sloppy turnovers, missed shots, hesitation. It led to an early timeout from Malone.

That did seem to sure up some of the offensive woes, they managed to close the gap to just 2 points over the next few minutes, but the defense didn’t follow suit. There was a distinct lack of it as Wendell Carter dropped 7 early points, and KCP had 4 of his own. He also was locking up Jamal, who only made 1 of his first 4 shots. The intensity from the Magic stood out – gee the Nuggets sure could use a guy like that.

The rest of the quarter was characterized by Jokic getting into his bag, Aaron Gordon having a couple silly turnovers, some poor defense (but poor offense by the Magic), a wicked block from Peyton Watson on Paolo Banchero, and a bad missed call by the refs on a blocked Julian Strawther 3 pointer. Malone tried to call a timeout to challenge and was ultimately ignored, but Strawther got some back with a layup late in the shot clock. Nuggets were down 1 at the end of the first ultimately, 28-29. Jokic had 12 points and 7 rebounds in the quarter.

Second Quarter

The Nuggets didn’t have the hottest start to the non-Jokic minutes in this game. While Aaron Gordon did get an and-one early on, he missed the free throw. Then they followed that up by Peyton Watson fumbling the ball and turning it over. The Nuggets suffered from another turnover from DeAndre Jordan, and some buckets from Trevilin Queen.

It was the first time in a while that it felt like the Nuggets were getting killed in the bench minutes. Though after a while, Jamal Murray got a couple buckets to go, and the offense got into a bit of a rhythm. The corners continued to be the Magic’s best friends though as they kept splashing from there. The defense still wasn’t great for the Nuggets, but they did only get outscored by 4. Then the big guy subbed back in.

It led to the Nuggets finding their rhythm again with Jok immediately grabbing a rebound, then getting fouled on the other end. 6 free throws and a Russell Westbrook layup later, and it was a tied game at 49. They’d been down as much as 10, but the good vibes didn’t go on forever. Peyton Watson, after getting his third block of the game, got an elbow to the face on the way down. Then when he landed, it looked like his head snapped into the floor a little bit. He was ruled questionable to return with a head contusion.

After Nikola Jokic was called for a flop technical, he shot a couple free throws of his own. That’s because while it was ruled he flailed on a fastbreak, the initial call was an offensive foul on him. That got reversed though, and was ruled a defensive foul on Wendell Carter Jr. The Nuggets took a 54-52 lead into the half.

Third Quarter

The second half started with a promising bang for the Nuggets. Michael Porter Jr. made a contested 3 pointer, and he’d been quiet up until that point. It seemed like he might be getting to that point. However, the Magic kept answering the call. Neither team could really pull away from the other. KCP would respond to that MPJ 3 with one of his own. Christian Braun made a couple free throws, Cole Anthony made a little hook shot.

That was until MPJ made another couple baskets. Then things started to pick up, including the Nuggets’ pace. KCP missed a couple shots and had a turnover. Cole Anthony wasn’t hitting as frequently. Russ became a bit of an engine, throwing a lob to Christian Braun among some other assists. The Nuggets got a bit of a run going.

With the offense going the way it did, the Magic didn’t keep up forever. Eventually the Nuggets started to slowly pull away. By the 3:17 mark of the quarter, they’d gone up 10 points on the Magic. Tristan Da Silva did keep it somewhat close, by scoring a couple of buckets. 10 points wasn’t insurmountable, but it was only a growing lead. Jamal Murray caught fire and put away a few buckets by the end of the quarter, and Nikola Jokic got a triple double too. They took a 16 point lead into the final frame, 93-77.

Fourth Quarter

The fourth quarter didn’t end up mattering in the slightest in this game. Jokic was able to remain on the bench throughout and get some much needed rest. Christian Braun got up to 20 points and secured a double-double, Jamal got up to 19 points but played 38 minutes. The garbage time lineup didn’t look that bad, and the Nuggets got as close to a munder as they could without getting one as they win 113-100.