The Denver Nuggets deserved to lose tonight and did so despite a second half comeback, falling 123-120 to the Dallas Mavericks in Denver. The Nuggets came out of the gate flat and lethargic for the first half, looking like they’d rather be doing anything other than playing basketball while falling behind by 20 at halftime before a furious second half rally fell just short. Nikola Jokic had 33 points, 17 rebound and 10 assists but was obviously gassed in the final minutes, missing shots he would normally make after a very physical game. Jamal Murray had 14 points on 16 shots to go with 11 rebounds, but his late-game defensive gaffes coughed up a late lead for Denver. MPJ had 11 points in the third quarter during the comeback but finished with only 17 overall and Denver could just not find the right buttons to press to come out with a win. Naji Marshall was the latest forward to destroy Denver off the bench with 26 points, while PJ Washington added 22 and 13 and Kyrie Irving had 19 points while being double-teamed much of the night.
Game Recap
Nuggets started the game with a Jamal Murray three point attempt that barely caught iron, which left PJ Washington to make the first bucket of the game for Dallas. Jokic missed his first attempt, Quentin Grimes made a Dallas three, and then Christian Braun made a layup and then got fouled on a dunk attempt to get Denver on the board. Washington and Lively got buckets for Dallas sandwiched around a Braun 3, but a blown oop and blocked transition bucket from Watson on separate possessions and a missed three by MPJ left the door open for Dallas to hit a Grimes 3 and take a 14-6 lead.
After a timeout a Jokic-assisted three from Murray slowed the Dallas run briefly, but Dallas was outrunning and outworking Denver with dunks and rebounds and transition points galore. Braun hit a back-cut dunk off an MPJ pass to make it 20-12 and then forced a Dallas turnover that led to a Jokic three for his first bucket. A steal and transition play by Strawther led to a Russell Westbrook pass for a Murray three, but Denver still couldn’t control the paint on defense. Another turnover from Watson in transition let to a 4 point swing and a 26-20 Dallas lead that Naji Marshall extended. Jokic hit a layup, Russ then had offensive goaltending, but Jokic forced his way through contact to get a traditional three-point play and buried one from behind the arc and after one Denver trailed 33-31 thanks to Julian Strawther’s last-second three throws.
Daniel Gafford dunked on Dario Saric to open the second quarter. MPJ tried to answer with a layup at the buzzer but was too late, and Saric got to the line to put a couple points up. Saric missed a three though while Jaden Hardy finished a baseline drive, and Kyrie Irving’s contested layup put Denver down 7, 40-33. Gafford made a layup, Braun had a turnover and Nikola Jokic came back down 9. Westbrook made a Jokic-assisted three, Braun and Lively exchanged buckets, and Peyton Watson finally finished a drive to cut the lead to 44-42. Spencer Dinwiddie hit a lucky three, Jokic made a layup with Lively draped all over him and no call, and Kyrie buried another three to give Dallas a 52-44 lead. Naji Marshall buried a deep buzzer-beating three while Dallas kept beating up Nikola inside, but he finished in the paint anyway for his 15th point of the first half. Dallas kept pushing in transition and off turnovers to balloon the lead to 14 while Denver played poor defense and missed shots as they were outworked and outmuscled. MPJ ended a 16-2 run for Dallas with his first three of the game, but Denver’s putrid transition defense and refusal to defend the paint left them down 73-53 at the half.
Dallas opened with a back cut for yet another paint bucket, then a dunk over Jokic as the lead ballooned to 24. MPJ finally drove the cup successfully for a hoop despite crashing into Jokic, then hit a stepback to cut it to 18. Kyrie made a bucket, Murray answered with a three but Denver was scrambling better for loose buckets. MPJ turned it over on his next drive though, while Jokic finished through contact. MPJ dunked a drive off a screen, Watson had a great block, and MPJ buried a three to cut the deficit to 12. Watson’s nice defense on one end led to Murray finding him for a finish on the other, then Murray forced a turnover and a Jokic-assisted Braun dunk cut it to 81-73. Jokic initiated a transition play that ended with a Watson finish, then Braun hit a three, Jokic made a bank shot and Ball Arena was exploding during a 27-10 run. Marshall ended it with a Dallas 3, but Porter answered at the rim again. Hunter Tyson got stuffed by the rim in transition, and unfortunately Dinwiddie answered with a three. Jokic grabbed a Russ rebound on the other end and made a putback, then made free throws on a rare shooting call the next time down. Marshall had a bucket for Dallas as Denver continued to keep the game close but couldn’t quite close that massive gap all in the third. Russ finished a drive late and then forced a turnover at the buzzer and Denver finished the quarter trailing by just 6, 95-89.
Russ and Deandre Jordan both missed paint shots to start the final frame, while Jaden Hardy made a corner 3 for Dallas. Russ answered with a pair of his own from deep for Denver, and Julian Strawther and Peyton Watson between them had a terrific transition block. Murray threw and oop to Deandre Jordan to cut the lead to 2, then Watson had a great block on Watson. Peyton took a hard foul on a Lively dunk, giving him two free throws, then exchanged paint buckets with Lively before Nikola Jokic came back in down 106-100. Russ buried yet another three, his fourth of the game, then Jokic grabbed a defensive rebound and finished on the other end. A Westbrook steal led to a Jokic-assisted three from Peyton Watson to give Denver its first lead at 109-106 with 5:34 to go. Gafford got a rebound and putback for Dallas, MPJ made a baseline jumper, and Jokic got back to the line to keep the lead at 3. Murray bricked a late-clock 3, but a good challenge by Malone on the out-of-bounds gave Denver the ball for a Watson dunk. Murray had back-to-back defensive mistakes that cost 5 points, and a Watson foul on an offensive rebound from a Jokic miss gave Dallas the lead on free throws. Jokic missed again inside as he was swarmed, the fifth shot in a row that Denver missed, and Washington finished to put Dallas up 117-113. Jokic made a bucket on a quick drive with 41 seconds left, Westbrook bricked both free throws but Jokic grabbed the rebound and kicked it to Jamal for a made three, but Kyrie made both free throws on his end. Jamal was fouled and made both free throws (even though he tried to miss the second one) and the final desperation possession ended in a turnover for Denver as they fell 123-120.
Final Thoughts
Denver got outworked in the first half – and didn’t seem to care. Not once in the first half did anyone other than Jokic decide to give something remotely resembling effort. Nikola Jokic had 19 / 8 / 4 at halftime but spent a bunch of time complaining to refs about the physical play rather than running back to stop the Dallas attack, and no one else picked him up. In fact, the aggressive Dallas defense turned Denver’s other players invisible and let the Mavs dominate the boards. The Denver defense was also abysmal, not denying one thing to Dallas. If they wanted threes, they were open. Paint buckets? Free for the taking with 44 in just the first 2 quarters. Transition? Denver just got out of the way. Awful showing from a team that had just a three game road trip and the past two days off but acted like they had to crawl over broken glass for a month before the game. Jokic has been bodily carrying the squad all year – acting this lethargic is a disgrace to that kind of effort.
Denver’s second half looked like a champion… until it didn’t. I don’t know what was said at halftime, but MPJ and Peyton Watson in particular responded in a big way. Mike had 11 third quarter points and Watson’s defense and transition game were both huge in chasing down that massive 20-point lead that Dallas had posted. Russell Westbrook hit 4 threes (despite shooting just 5-for-13) and had several massive plays on both ends, but in the end the squad ran out of gas. Their failure to try in the first half meant their furious effort in the second half couldn’t be sustained, and Malone riding both Westbrook and Murray for the whole fourth quarter while his best perimeter defender in Christian Braun sat on the bench cost the Nuggets as the tired guards could not hold up on defense in the waning minutes. Murray in particular blew three consecutive possessions for the Nuggets that cost them 7 crucial points.
It’s a bad loss for Denver despite the final score simply because of the hole they dug for themselves. The Nuggets can’t keep expecting to bail themselves out of these graves they dig, and refusing to show up early in these games puts all the work on Jokic to keep it close until the Nuggets figure out whether they want to really play. The third quarter was spectacular basketball, but it’s not sustainable. MPJ had scoring but they never went back to him. Jokic put in the work until he literally couldn’t any more after being beaten up all game. Dallas treated Denver like the Nuggets were soft and Denver proved them right for much of the game and in the final score. The team has to find ways to give that third quarter effort earlier in these games or they will continue to waste these efforts from Jokic as well as the chance to have him fresh enough to provide them in April and beyond if the Nuggets want to meet their aspirations for the year.
