The Nuggets came into tonight’s game against the third-place Rockets barely out of play-in seeding and looking like a team sputtering toward the finish line. But as is so often the case with this core of superbly talented and gritty competitors, the slow death of a season may have been greatly exaggerated.
Here’s how the Nuggets responded to being blown out by the Knicks and gutted by the Thunder.
1st Quarter
Jamal Murray and Jabari Smith Jr. dueled in the first. The Nuggets started cold (1-5 FGM) but tied the game at seven after a CB layup and Cam trey. Two layups for Murray then gave Denver a three-point lead, followed by a dribble hand-off three, prompting the Rockets first timeout. Both teams stalled on offense into the final quarter of the first until Murray and Jabari Smith Jr. traded jumpers. After a Nuggets timeout, Jokic got going, converting on a middy then finding Christian leaking out for an easy dunk. The Joker turned it over with under a minute left but returned the favor on the other end and hit Bruce in transition, which ended in a shooting foul (1-2 FTM). With a second left, THJ fouled Sengun, but Not-Quite-Jokic-Jr. missed both, and the Nuggets went to the second up 24-20.
2nd Quarter
Predictably, Hardaway Jr. started the 2nd cooking with a three and driving layup to extend the Nuggets lead to 31-26. He then turned it over in the open court, though, leading to an Eason layup. After Amen Thompson laid it in through contact followed by a Sengun sprint-out dunk, the Rockets had tied the game at 31 just four minutes in. Back-and-forth scoring followed with Big Val’s fourth point and two jumpers by Mal and Cam being matched by Nugget-Killing Reed Sheppard converting a finger roll and Sengun and Thompson each scoring in the paint.
The teams went back-and-forth with neither establishing any clear momentum after Jokic checked back in. Cam Johnson’s run-out finally built the Nuggets lead back up to three with 2:26 left in the half, cueing a Rockets timeout. A pair of CB layups on Jokic assists extended the lead to 50-43 before Capela’s dunk stopped the run. Eason’s jumper through a solid AG contest cut the Nuggets lead to three, but Christian hit a long stepback trey at the buzzer to give the Nuggets a 53-47 lead at the half, having held Kevin Durant to just five points on four shots.
3rd Quarter
Jokic set the tempo out of the gate with four quick points, giving the Nuggets their first double-digit lead. But Thompson, Eason, and Durant matched with back-to-back-to-back layups. AG finally got the big stop, blocking Sengun and setting up a Jokic-to-Johnson three in transition. After Sengun countered with a driving layup, a Jokic floater and Murray dunk off a long rebound and run-out forced a Rockets timeout as the Nuggets threatened to blow the game open (64-55).
Out of the timeout, the Nuggets turned up the pressure on a clearly gassed Rockets squad. Cam’s third from deep was matched by KD and Amen pullups, but a Jokic and-one grew the Nuggets’ lead to 70-59. A foul on Murray with 6:00 minutes left put the Rockets over the limit while Denver had yet to foul in the quarter. Staying aggressive, Cam barreled through Okogie to earn a trip to the line where he converted both for his 15th point. He then followed this season-best scoring outburst with a steal, leading to Murray’s 20th point on a transition layup and ballooning the Nuggets’ lead to 76-61. CB added two more nails to the coffin with back-to-back deep Js, and the rout was on with 4:01 left in the third. The Rockets tried but couldn’t mount a response to close out the quarter, and the Nuggets entered the fourth up 93-69 on a THJ dagger.
4th Quarter
The Rockets came out with a back-of-the-bench lineup, giving the good guys a chance to rest their stars with a brutal back-to-back against the Spurs on Thursday. Hardaway Jr. hit another bomb to explode the lead to a game-high 27. Mal added a jumper and three, giving him 30 for the game and a quick hook. A big Val layup and Brucey B three nuked the Nuggets lead to 33 and ensured Jokic and AG could also rest up for tomorrow’s showdown at the Alamo.
FINAL SCORE: Houston Rockets 93, Denver Nuggets 129
GAME NOTES
- Nikola Jokic has four straight seasons with 25+ triple doubles—first in NBA history
- The Rockets 36-point loss was the largest of the season
- Denver won the season series 3-1, which could be significant in the tight Western Conference standings
