The Denver Nuggets recently completed its busiest month of the season (16 games) with a four-game winning streak after traveling to New Orleans and knocking off the Pelicans on the road.

On Friday, the Nuggets returned to the Mile High City for yet another matchup with a western conference powerhouse, the Houston Rockets. Denver extended its streak to five games with a 136-122 victory over Houston at the Pepsi Center, behind a phenomenal performance from Malik Beasley.

With a double-digit win for the Nuggets on a nationally televised game, here is the good, the bad and the ugly.

Good – Concerted effort

The Nuggets had a tough task of slowing down the league’s reigning MVP, James Harden, as he brought in his blistering hot high-scoring streak to Denver. Harden entered Friday’s game averaging 36.3 points per, and in front of a global audience on ESPN, the former MVP did not disappoint. Despite the 30-point performance from Harden, the Nuggets kept him in check for the majority of the game as the veteran guard finished 9-of-21 from the field.

Prior to Friday’s game, the Nuggets had not beaten the Rockets in nine straight tries but broke that streak with six players scoring in double digits and everyone chipping in.

Jokic was masterful yet again. The Serbian big man came close to another triple double with 31 points, nine assists and 13 rebounds in the game. What’s more, Jokic finished 12-of-12 from the field in what was an extremely efficient outing for the first-time All-Star.

Monte Morris and Malik Beasley each had big nights as well. Morris finished with 18 points and battled back and forth with Chris Paul all night. Beasley was a pleasant surprise, finishing with 35 points, a career-high for the former Florida State Seminole.

Bad – Strategy guarding Harden early

The home crowd was against Harden from the start, booing him nearly every time he touched the basketball. With every call that went his way, that disdain for Harden grew and the Nuggets fans were not shy about showing how they felt.

But, Harden is still Harden and he had a remarkable first half in a hostile environment. Really, it was Harden that kept Houston in the game when the Nuggets went off four 48 points in the second quarter. And they did so by playing extremely aggressive.

The Rockets’ game plan was simple: attack.

Houston isolated Jokic early on and forced plenty of switches in which the Nuggets typically had a defender that could not guard Harden and he scored – often.

With Gary Harris and Jamal Murray both being out, Malone decided to switch things up and have Paul Millsap start on Harden, which almost immediately proved ineffective. Harden finished the first quarter with 15 points and Houston hit eight 3-pointers as the Rockets came out of the gate hot. The Rockets found the matchup that Harden wanted and then he attacked the Nuggets defender in isolation and which led to the big half.

Harden had 15 points at the end of the first and that great play carried into the second. He scored, he dished and distributed; and just like every other team that the Rockets have seen this season, the Nuggets had to make serios adjustments in the second half or continue to be torched by the MVP candidate.

In the end, Harden’s streak of 30-points lived another day. But, after totalling 15 points in the first quarter alone, Denver did manage to hold Harden to only 15 more points over final three.

Ugly –Morris snubbed

The ugly is not really an ugly – or is it?

There was plenty of chatter on social media about the NBA All-Star selection and who was snubbed. Names like Donovan Mitchell, Luka Doncic, Rudy Gobert and D’Angelo Russell were atop the list, but there was another snub that should have been talked about.

The 2019 NBA Rising Stars rosters were announced Tuesday night and Denver backup point guard Monte Morris was not named to the team, despite being a major reason that Denver is in second place out West.

Morris is quietly putting together one of the best seasons for any backup guard in the entire league and could technically should be looked at as a rookie as he only played in three games in the 2017-18 season.

On the season, Morris is averaging 10.2 points and 3.7 assists per game and that is while having to play rotational minutes. As of late, he has had to step up and start in a few games due to injuries on the team.

In Friday’s game Morris came up big yet again as he started for the injured Murray.

Morris finished with 18 points, six rebounds and eight assists, while running the unit smoothly in the process. He took care of the ball and only committed one turnover, and when the Nuggets needed him to hit big shots against Houston, the up-and-coming guard was able to deliver. Not only should Morris have been selected for the Rising Stars Game, but the former Iowa State Cyclone should also be considered one of the most improved players in the entire NBA.