After beating the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night, the Denver Nuggets were finally in position to begin another winning streak. In order to do so, they would have to get the better of the Orlando Magic in the friendly confines of the Pepsi Center in downtown Denver. The Magic came into their matchup with the Nuggets with a record of 7-3 in their last ten games and were looking to climb above .500 through 19 games.
Instead, it was the Nuggets that outlasted the Magic. Behind another incredible bench performance, the Nuggets came out on top and beat the Magic 112-87 for their second-straight win and improved to 12-7 on the year.
In the first quarter, the Nuggets began the game doing whatever they wanted on both ends of the floor. They were gobbling up steals and getting out in transition. Jokic was whipping no-look passes in all directions. Denver’s defensive determination was very high. Paul Millsap had eight points in just nine minutes of action and it seemed like things were going as well as possible for Denver.
Then, the Nuggets shots just stopped falling. Gary Harris’ slump continued by starting the game by going 0-for-6 from the field and Denver shot a meager 33 percent in the first quarter. They were unable to make a single 3-point attempt and, if it was not for Denver’s bench unit, they likely would not have had a lead heading into the second quarter.
By the time the first quarter had ended, Denver had only scored 21 points, but still held a two-point lead by a score of 21-19. Without Denver’s bench unit, things would have likely gotten much worse.
To begin the second quarter, the Nuggets reserves continued to do damage — specifically Trey Lyles who was running the floor with intensity, punishing mismatches in the post, and attacking the glass on both ends of the floor. The bench continued to keep the Magic at bay for the remainder of their time on the floor.
That is when the Nuggets starters returned to the game and they began scorching Orlando. Jokic was whipping passes around without a care in the world and, finally, shots began to fall for Denver. Harris, who began the game 0-for-7 from the field, hit two big 3-point shots in the second quarter and finally began to get his groove back. Paul Millsap continued his big-time offensive production and had 12 points on seven shots.
Eventually, Denver would finally get both their offense and defense functioning at a high level at the same time and the Nuggets carried a 54-41 lead over the Magic into halftime behind Jokic’s eight points and eight assists.
In the first half alone, Denver had stretches in which their defense was impermeable, but their offense was non-existant. They also had stretches in which they were allowing the Magic to score easily in addition to their own offense becoming unstoppable. Essentially, the Nuggets were struggling in the exact same way they have been all season — they could not get both their offense and defense playing well simultaneously for long enough to extend a lead. It was not until the final 5:30 of the first half that Denver was able to get both their offense and defense on the same page. In that 5:30 of action, the Nuggets went on a 19-8 run to close the second quarter which gave them their 13-point lead.
The Nuggets mostly stayed on the gas in the third quarter, but their offense would come and go throughout most of the frame. Jamal Murray was the perfectly example of this as he was forcing bad shots to begin the second half and was struggling greatly on defense. Then, as if he flipped a switch, he was able to convert an and-one opportunity and began defending with intensity and vigor.
Even with the ups-and-downs of the third quarter, Denver managed to carry a lead into the fourth and final quarter by a score of 80-68. Once again, the big reason for the uptick in production on both offense and defense was because Denver’s bench mob came in and turned up the aggression on both ends of the floor. Monte Morris, Trey Lyles, and Mason Plumlee were playing fundamentally sound basketball the entire time they were on the floor and it helped Denver jump out to a 12-point lead before the third quarter buzzer sounded.
The Nuggets flat-out dominated the Magic to begin the final frame of the game. Plumlee was throwing no-look, one-handed, overhead passes, grabbing offensive rebounds, and throwing down alley-oop dunks while Denver’ defense dominated. After the first five minutes of the fourth quarter, the Nuggets suddenly found themselves up 23 points after starting the quarter on a 16-5 run with almost all credit going to their bench unit.
The rest of the game was a mere formality as Denver emptied their bench and came away with a much-needed victory at home.
Jokic finished with a very Jokic-esque stat line of six points, 10 rebounds, and 11 assists to go with two steals without committing a single turnover in just 22 minutes of action. Lyles led the Nuggets in scoring with 22 points on 9-of-15 shooting. Mason Plumlee did a bit of everything against the Magic with 13 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, two steals, and two blocks without committing a turnover while shooting 5-of-7 from the field.
Next, the Nuggets will head straight to Oklahoma to take on the Oklahoma City Thunder in a divisional matchup for the second game of Denver’s back to back. That game tips off at 6pm MST on Saturday night as Denver looks to extend their winning streak to three games.
