The Denver Nuggets defeated the Portland Trail Blazers 120-108 on Friday night, bouncing back with a solid performance in front of the home crowd.

The Nuggets got off to a great start in the first quarter, and it was clear early on that they outmatched the Blazers, a team missing Jerami Grant (late scratch) and Shaedon Sharpe. Jokic was great early, as was Aaron Gordon, at pushing the pace and creating offense from the middle of the floor.

The Blazers bounced back in the second quarter and outscored the Nuggets 35-26 to cut into Denver’s lead though. Rookie Scoot Henderson was balling out, and the Blazers found opportunities in fast break situations to beat the Nuggets defense down the court.

Ultimately though, the Nuggets put the Blazers away in the second half with impressive performances from Nikola Jokic, Aaron Gordon, and Peyton Watson.

 Nikola Jokic had an incredible stat line with 27 points, 22 rebounds, and 12 assists to go with three stocks. Jokic was dominant in the middle of the floor against an underwhelming Blazers front court. The Blazers decided to use smaller players to guard Jokic all night, and he punished the defense by getting into the middle of the floor. He drew attention, and either sprayed out to shooters as a passer, dropped the ball off under the rim to the dunker spot, or grabbed offensive rebounds, on top of simply scoring nearly every time he touched the ball.

“He was outstanding tonight,” Michael Malone shared postgame. “It was just watching greatness once again, like we’re so accustomed to when Nikola plays.”

Jokic now has six games in his career of at least 25 points, 20 rebounds, and 10 assists, which ties him with Elgin Baylor for the third most all-time, according to Stathead. Only Wilt Chamberlain (24 games) and Oscar Robertson (8 games) have more such performances.

 On the other side of the spectrum, Jamal Murray had a rough shooting night, scoring 13 points on 5-of-21 from the field. It was actually the worst shooting night of Murray’s career on volume, as Murray’s 13 points were the fewest he’s ever had when attempting at least 20 shots.

“I was proud of Jamal. Jamal could not make a shot tonight,” Malone shared about his starting point guard. “3-of-15 from three, but he goes out there and gets 10 boards and nine assists, and I thought had some pretty good defensive possessions.”

Malone shared some positive thoughts pregame about Murray not making the All-Star team. Games like tonight aren’t going to help his case, but Murray still ended up with 13 points, 10 rebounds, and nine assists. He found other ways to impact the game, which is often what Malone shares he wants to see from Murray as he continues to grown and improve.

Other players to play pretty well tonight were Aaron Gordon, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and Peyton Watson. Gordon only played 28 minutes but was impressive throughout, hitting almost all of his jump shots, playing good defense, and creating for others. He finished the game with 18 points, four rebounds, and five assists.

The only reason Gordon didn’t play more was because Peyton Watson had himself a nice fourth quarter on both ends of the floor. After struggling defensively through the first three quarters, Watson turned up the intensity, putting up 14 points, five rebounds, and a blocked shot. Watson even went 6-of-8 from the field and 2-of-2 from three, continuing to showcase an improved jump shot and comfortability.

“His defense has really stepped up this year,” KCP shared of Peyton Watson. “I always tell Peyton, just stay locked in. It’s going to come to you whether you’re getting shots or not. The ball’s going to come to you.”

Finally, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope put up the most impressive defensive possession of his season against Anfernee Simons in the fourth quarter. Simons had been cooking everyone in front of him, but KCP sat down and hounded the young Blazers guard for what felt like a full 24 seconds, ultimately forcing a missed shot and reacting with some serious enthusiasm.

 It wasn’t until after the play that KCP noticed his right pinky finger was dislocated.

“I didn’t even realize it until I was walking to the bench,” Caldwell-Pope shared postgame. “That’s the reason why I was walking to the bench. I realized it was out of place. It just popped out of place, so they popped it back in.”

Caldwell-Pope shared it was the first time he’s had a dislocated finger, and he will test out shooting with it on Saturday to see if the pain is bearable.

Now 50 games into the season, the Nuggets improved to 34-16 tonight, the exact same record as last season.

“I like that we are playing with the same effort,” Jokic shared. “It’s not like we won a championship and we’re gonna go easy. We still want to compete and we still want to be better.”

There are ways where Denver’s gotten better and worse, but the effort has been there fairly consistently, especially on the defensive end. The Nuggets are showing they can do what they need to do, and that bodes well for the coming months, regular season and playoffs.

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