There was enough tension to make a therapist blush, and if it helped condition the Nuggets for a deep postseason run, even better.
It took overtime, but the Nuggets withstood the Clippers, 134-124, in a gripping contest Sunday night to improve to 43-19 on the year and 28-4 at home. The Nuggets just needed to get to overtime. From there, their offense filleted Los Angeles’ defense with dagger 3-pointers and resounding alley-oops.
Jamal Murray set the tone with a quick 3-pointer in the extra session, and Michael Porter Jr. followed suit, piggybacking on a clutch triple he hit in regulation. Nikola Jokic secured his 23rd triple-double of the season when he found Bruce Brown for an alley-oop lob late to seal it.
Jokic finished with 40 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists, and the Nuggets improved to 23-0 in games where the two-time MVP secured a triple-double. Porter finished with 29 points and four 3-pointers, while Murray logged 21 points and 12 assists.
If Sunday was a preview of an upcoming postseason series, absolutely no one could complain.
Kawhi Leonard paced the Clippers with 33 points, and Bones Hyland, in his first game since being traded from Denver, ended the night with 10 points off the bench.
But the Nuggets poured in 62 points in the paint and dished 35 assists in the win.
Twice the Nuggets avoided disaster in the third quarter. On the first sequence, Russell Westbrook was whistled for a flagrant foul after landing in Porter’s shooting space on a made 3-pointer. When Porter went to the ground, he flexed his right ankle several times. When he stood up, there was a giant grin on his face, as if fans and teammates immediately thought the worst.
Porter was fantastic all game, but particularly to start the second half. He scored 15 points in the third quarter alone, unleashing both his marksmanship and his willingness to attack the rim with his size. Porter, who staggered with the second unit in the third, also had a significant impact on the defensive glass.
Of the bench unit, Nuggets coach Michael Malone deemed it a “work in progress,” and suggested interested parties be patient as the team ironed out its issues over the final stretch of the regular season.
Aaron Gordon also went head-over-heels in a scary fall but came up clean. Gordon had missed the last five games due to a painful rib contusion but wore a brace around his midsection to buffer any contact. The Nuggets matched the Clippers’ scoring and carried a 97-88 lead into the final quarter.
Malone said he would’ve been hard-pressed to find clips from Saturday’s blowout loss to Memphis that embodied that type of basketball his team endeavored to play.
So instead, he simplified the message.
“Play harder,” Malone said before the game.
Despite arriving back in Denver early Sunday morning, the Nuggets played with a verve befitting of the national TV matchup. There was crisp passing, solid spacing and a handful of momentum plays that helped establish Denver’s 66-58 lead at the break.
Jokic led all scorers with 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting in the first half. On one signature play, he spun former teammate Mason Plumlee around before finishing the bucket. Numerous teammates, including Thomas Bryant and Reggie Jackson, mimicked the spin in front of Denver’s bench.
Murray was juiced for the matchup, too. He registered 13 in the first half, including a deep step-back 3-pointer with Hyland on him. Ball Arena started buzzing as soon as it sensed the matchup.
Hyland, to his credit, didn’t shy away from his return to Denver even as fans showered him with boos at each touch. He knocked down a couple of 3-pointers in the first half and then banged his chest after a tough finish inside.
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