The Denver Nuggets continue to work their way through the heart of the season while battling multiple injuries and just trying to find ways to win. Tonight ws no different as they played the Western Conference’s worst team in the New Orleans Pelicans and found themselves in a dogfight. Denver leaned on Jamal Murray and Peyton Watson to lead the team while the Pelicans had Zion Williamson and Trey Murphy. The game turned out to be a close battle heading into the final minutes and the Nuggets showed their experience and why they’ve been the better team this year. They found a way to close strong and steal a win on the road. Denver fights for all 48 minutes and gets a 122-116 victory.
There wasn’t much offense from either team in the early going. Both teams were forcing the issue on offense but weren’t getting their shots to fall. The Nuggets eventually got a couple threes to go down which gave them a small lead. They couldn’t find any consistency though and the Pelicans responded with a few outside shots of their own. New Orleans got ahead but Murray kept the Nuggets in it midway through the first. The benches started to check in and Watson started to heat up. He got four straight points and the Nuggets took the lead back. They stayed a bucket ahead down the stretch, helped by Jalen Pickett knocking down some shots. Due to some questionable defense they didn’t build their lead as the quarter closed. After one Denver was up 32-31.
Denver’s bench unit struggled on offense to open the second quarter and the Pelicans took the lead back on a 7-3 run. The defense was also suspect early in the second which Zion took advantage of and pushed the New Orleans advantage up to eight. Watson came back into the game and started attacking which settled things down for Denver. Aaron Gordon came in shortly after him and Denver went on a run. New Orleans got into foul trouble which helped the Nuggets chip away and they were back within three with five minutes left in the half. They stalled out after that and got careless with the basketball. A couple of easy baskets for the Pelicans forced David Adelman to take a timeout with the lead back up to eight. Denver tightened up their defense and stopped the bleeding but still couldn’t get enough stops to cut into the lead. At the end of the first half New Orleans led 65-60.
The Nuggets came out flat to start the third quarter and the Pelicans went on a 6-0 run to push the lead to double digits. Denver fought back with their stars but just couldn’t string together good possessions. They stayed behind about a half dozen while both offenses started to get a bit clunky. Watson was pretty much Denver’s sole source of points while Derik Queen had a couple nice plays for New Orleans. Denver went ice cold but got to the free throw line to keep within striking distance. Murray started to heat up, after he knocked down a three the Nuggets trailed by just three with under four minutes left in the third. They just couldn’t seem to get over the hump though and the Pelicans kept getting a shot when they needed one, even if it was a Jordan Poole logo 3. Denver was able to keep chipping away though and at the end of the third trailed just 92-89.
Tim Hardaway Jr. got a couple quick buckets for Denver to open the fourth and they briefly took the lead but Poole and Williamson struck back while Spencer Jones also picked up his sixth foul. Watson checked back in and immediately paid dividends and led a run. The Nuggets retook the lead at 101-100 and the starters came back in. The game was back and forth with Denver starting to struggle to hit shots again. Murphy hit a big three and put the Pelicans up four with four minutes to go. After a timeout Denver hit back to back threes and went back in front. Murray was willing the offense and had the Nuggets up two with a minute to go. Murphy got a layup to tie the game but Watson responded with a fadeaway and the Nuggets got a stop on the other end of the floor. Denver iced it out at the free throw line and steal a 122-116 win.
