The Denver Nuggets must just be used to playing with about half of their normal rotation at this point. Once again down four starters, the Nuggets took on Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks and didn’t back down. It wasn’t pretty and points were hard to come by, but Aaron Gordon, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Peyton Watson led the charge for the Nuggets who ultimately leave Ball Arena victorious with a 108-104 W.
The Nuggets got out in front early with Jalen Pickett and Gordon doing the scoring while Milwaukee missed a few shots. Eventually Denver’s offense went dry though, the Bucks went on a run and took the lead to force David Adelman to take an early timeout. The Nuggets continued to struggle to score the basketball while Myles Turner was knocking down threes. With AG still on a minutes restriction he was the first player to come off the court and then Denver’s offense couldn’t buy a basket for a few minutes before Watson knocked down a three. That sparked a Nuggets run. Hardaway Jr. knocked down a midrange jumper to force the Bucks to take a timeout with them suddenly trailing. Milwaukee was able to start getting some points again but Denver stayed in front down the stretch and ended the quarter leading 27-23.
Hardaway Jr. picked up right where he left off in the first quarter by burying a big three to open the second. He led a bench unit who played fast and forced the Bucks to try to keep pace. They were able to do that but the Nuggets stayed a couple baskets ahead with Bruce Brown attacking the basket. Old friend Gary Harris was keeping Milwaukee in it with some corner threes. The starters began to check back in and the Bucks went to Giannis to keep it close while Denver looked clunky even with Gordon back on the floor. Still, they managed to stay in front with the quarter half over. They were up 43-42 when Pickett went on an 8-0 run by himself with an and-1, a step back three and a coast-to-coast layup. After a timeout, back-to-back threes by Denver made it a 14-0 run to give them their first double digit lead of the game. The Bucks stopped the bleeding there and Turner got their offense going again. Milwaukee was able to briefly get the lead back under ten but at half they trailed 62-52.
The second half did not start out well for Denver. They struggled mightily to find their offense while the Bucks went on a 9-0 run. Gordon got a free throw but that was the only point the Nuggets had for the first five minutes of the quarter. Haraway got some free throws after that and Denver’s defense was strong enough to keep them clinging to a lead with the quarter almost half over and zero field goals from the home team. They finally got some offense with some of the bench guys coming in, after a Zeke Nnaji layup the Nuggets were somehow still up 71-68 with four and a half minutes to go. They went on an 8-2 run after that to grow the lead back up. Brown was attacking the basket once again and got some life back into Denver. They got out and ran to close out the third and headed into the fourth leading 85-74.
Pickett and Nnaji got a quick five points for Denver to open the fourth quarter but they once again started to struggle on offense after that. That led to an early return for the starters which paid immediate dividends with a Gordon and-1 that put the Nuggets ahead ten. The Bucks responded with Giannis and pulled back within five forcing Adelman to take a timeout. Denver was working through Gordon but couldn’t pull away with the fourth quarter heading down the stretch. Hardaway stepped up big knocking down a pair of jumpers which offset a Kevin Porter Jr. three and another Giannis basket. The Bucks weren’t going to go away though. They pulled within three with just over a minute to go. The lid was on the basket for Denver as they clung to the lead which gave Milwaukee the ball trailing three with thirty seconds left. They got a number of chances but multiple blocks ultimately led to Gordon getting the rebound. He had to ice it at the free throw line over a couple trips but ultimately did that to get Denver another gritty win, 108-104.
