BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Much to the rest of the NBA’s chagrin, the Nuggets’ supposedly weak second unit was a leading catalyst for their improved offense in recent road games.
Maybe it was only a matter of time before a slip. Sometimes, a defending champion starting five can carry the load.
Nikola Jokic registered 31 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists while Jamal Murray erupted in the second half, and the Nuggets edged the Nets 122-117 for their fourth consecutive road win Friday night at Barclays Center.
Denver (20-10) trailed 105-101 with under five minutes to go, but Jokic scored the next five points to reclaim the lead, and Murray traded buckets with Brooklyn down the stretch. In the last two minutes, he made a pull-up jumper and a contested floater on back-to-back possessions with a one-point lead both times.
“He kind of helped will this team to a win tonight,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said.
After scoring only six first-half points, Murray heated up for 16 in the third quarter and finished the night with 32 and nine assists on 11-of-19 shooting, including three free throws that stretched Denver’s lead to 118-114 with 15 seconds left. He went to the line, made the first shot, then rebounded his own miss on the second to earn two more, icing the game.
“Man, it worked out,” Murray said, “but I was disappointed that I missed that one.”
In the three straight road wins entering this matchup, the Nuggets were averaging 41.3 bench points on 48.9% shooting from the field. The result: a team offensive rating of 123.6 in that trio of games, up double-digits from the first 13 road games of the season in which Denver started 5-8.
That same bench shot 10 for 29 in Brooklyn, compiling only 23 points. All six bench players who entered the game were a minus-nine or worse. Christian Braun and Julian Strawther shot a combined 0 for 8.
The Nuggets opened up an 11-point lead in the first quarter with eight points from Michael Porter Jr. in the first five minutes, but that lead evaporated as soon as Denver started making substitutions. The Nets went ahead by five early in the second.
“We got off to such a great start tonight, and then the bottom fell out for a while,” Malone said. “And I didn’t recognize the team on the floor.”
Still, when it was closing time, Malone leaned on his most encouraging young player as of late. Peyton Watson completed a nine-point effort with a driving dunk in the final minute, making it a two-possession game. But in a growing pain moment at the other end, he fouled Cam Thomas on a made three to keep Brooklyn alive.
“He’s not trying to make a mistake, but what a valuable experience to learn from,” Malone said. “Because that is the biggest lesson that he can learn, being in (late) game situations and failing. And saying, ‘I can’t put myself in that position next time.’”
“To be honest, I think we all made big mistakes, and I’ve had a problem with making big mistakes,” Jokic said. “So just a learning lesson, and nobody’s mad at him. He did it from a good place. … He was aggressive.”
The only position on the second unit where one player hasn’t stuck is center. Malone has gone back and forth between DeAndre Jordan and Zeke Nnaji. When he ended a streak of Jordan games earlier this week, Nnaji capitalized on the opportunity with a 14-point night against Dallas. He backed up Jokic again in Toronto, but Malone went back to Jordan during the first-half bench minutes in Brooklyn. By the second stretch of Jokic rest minutes, Denver changed course, going with Nnaji against a smaller Nets roster that’s more conducive to Nnaji’s skillset.
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