“Winning is fun and losing sucks. We’re going to try to win as much as possible.”
That was what Nikola Jokić had to say after the Denver Nuggets completed their biggest comeback of the season. After being down by as many as 20 points in the second quarter, the Nuggets rallied back to win by 18 points over the New Orleans Pelicans, 134-116.
With the win, the Nuggets are now 7-1 on the season and continue to have a firm grasp on the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. It's been an arduous stretch for Denver. Not only has the team played 6 games in 9 days, but this was Denver's first game without Jamal Murray, who exited Saturday's contest against the Chicago Bulls with a hamstring strain.
"I don't expect Jamal Murray being back in the near future," said head coach Michael Malone in the postgame presser. Hamstring strains are notoriously tricky to navigate, and it's easy to re-aggravate them.
Still, Denver was able to get it done on Monday night.
"We were down 20 in the first half," said Jokić. "But I think that's what good teams do. They recover and they don't give up."
Speaking of Jokić, he was the catalyst for Denver's comeback. He put up a ridiculous stat line: 35 points on 15-of-24 shooting, 14 rebounds, and 12 assists. In doing so, he passed Jason Kidd and LeBron James for fourth place on the all-time triple-doubles list.
Rookie Julian Strawther finished with a career-high 21 points on 8-of-13 from the field. 13 of his points came in the fourth quarter—a portion of them with Jokić on the bench—to help Denver complete the comeback.
"That's my job. If I'm gonna get put in the game, I gotta make shots," said Strawther after the game. "That's what the team expects of me, and that's what Coach expects of me. When he put me out there, he kind of just gave me the green light to shoot, and the guys were looking for me, and I'm not gonna shy away from the moment."
Michael Porter Jr. turned in another strong performance with 22 points and 9 rebounds. This was MPJ's third straight game of scoring more than 20 points.
Rookie Jordan Hawkins was the high man for New Orleans and tallied 31 points on seven made three-pointers.
"He was moving. He's great at moving without the ball," said Kentavious Caldwell-Pope about the rookie. "He reminds me of Buddy Hield. Continuing to move and just try to get open. They set screens for him. He's a great shooter."
Hawkins' hot shooting allowed the Pelicans to go a combined 43.3 percent from deep. Denver made up the difference by winning the rebounding battle for the third-straight game, 45-38, which has historically coincided with their victories.
"We knew that they were really hot in the second quarter. I think they made 10 threes in the first half," said Collin Gillespie. "We were able to hold them to 3 in the second half... We knew it was a long game left. Just stay in it, fight, and just do whatever we could to find our way back in the game."
Porter Jr. started strong with 7 early points and a side-step three-pointer. Jokić was on a mission and dished numerous gorgeous passes in the first quarter, including a pass that went between his own legs. Brandon Ingram was on fire, however, and helped New Orleans build a 27-25 first quarter lead.
The Pelicans could not miss in the second quarter from three and made 8 of their first 12 looks from distance (they entered the ballgame 23rd in three-point shooting at 32.5 percent). Behind their hot shooting, New Orleans went on a 16-6 run to build a 20-point lead. Jokić would not let his squad get in too deep of a hole and hit numerous shots and dished some pretty passes. Porter Jr. got a pair of dunks by cutting straight to the rim when the defense lost track of him, and Denver entered halftime down 59-71.
The Nuggets made a comeback in the third. At the 4:32 mark in the period, Denver took its first lead of the ballgame off a made basket from Jokić. Gillespie checked in and quickly made an impact with a three-pointer and a tough double-clutch bucket, plus the foul, on a drive to the rim with the shot clock expiring. Denver entered the fourth quarter with a 99-92 lead.
The rookie, Strawther, caught on absolute fire in the fourth quarter. He began the period by hitting a floater after snaking the pick-and-roll. Then, he hit an audacious transition pull-up three-pointer against a tight contest. Strawther continued working and hitting another floater, this time with his back to the basket, and then cashed in another three-pointer. That last shot gave him 13 points in the fourth and his team a 113-100 lead.
The Pelicans made it interesting when Zion Williamson attacked the basket for two straight buckets to make it a 7-point game. But then Porter Jr. drew four consecutive free throws on an offensive rebound and a strong cut to the rim. Jokić put the ball game out of reach for New Orleans on a midrange jumper and hook shot over the outstretched arms of Jonas Valančiūnas.