Nikola Jokic’s day off worked wonders.
After missing just his second game this season in a loss at Oklahoma City, Jokic returned with a vengeance to shepherd the Nuggets to a 120-108 win over the Trail Blazers on Friday night. It was the first half of a two-game series at Ball Arena between the Western Conference foes, with a rematch on Sunday.
Jokic, who doesn’t like to sit out games for load management purposes, acknowledged that the occasional rest can benefit him in the long term. “I think it’s a smart thing to do,” he said.
For the second time this week, he had a triple-double by the end of the third quarter. Jokic amassed 27 points, 22 rebounds, 12 assists and two blocks to carry the Nuggets (34-16) when Jamal Murray was cold and the second unit struggled to protect leads.
“The way they were guarding us, switching a lot. He caught the ball, he scored,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “They sent a double-team, he found the open man. It was just watching greatness once again, like we’re so accustomed to.”
Murray shot just 5-for-21 from the field for 13 points, but he still came within one rebound of his own unusual triple-double. Offensively, his teammates picked him up. All five starters scored in double figures, as well as two bench players.
When Denver desperately needed a spark in the non-Jokic minutes, Peyton Watson delivered. He scored 10 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter after the lead was trimmed to five, capped off by a corner 3-pointer to force a Chauncey Billups timeout and usher Jokic back into a 103-93 game. Aaron Gordon had 18 points on nine shots. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had 16 on eight.
Denver has the same record at the 50-game mark as last season.
“I like that we are playing with the same effort,” Jokic said. “It’s not like we won a championship and we’re gonna go easy. We still want to compete and we still want to be better.”
The two-time MVP was out due to lower back pain in Oklahoma City, but he participated in the Nuggets’ shootaround Friday morning and had no issue turning up his activity at the defensive end as soon as the game started. Jokic was deflecting passes, blocking shots, closing out. He was looking to throw the touchdown outlet pass every time he pulled in a rebound, leading to a couple of hockey assists, and his distributing in the half-court was equally saucy. On multiple occasions, he completed volleyball-style touch passes but wasn’t rewarded with assists.
Caldwell-Pope apologized after failing to cash in on a corner three created by one of those passes. “My bad, Jok,” he mouthed, even though he had drawn a foul on the miss to earn three points.
The shooting guard, who Denver has been pedaling as a first-team All-Defense candidate this season, was impressed by Jokic’s defense Friday.
“I feel like the more he’s up in pick-and-rolls and on the ball, I feel like that’s what he’s great at. Just being up. Active hands,” Caldwell-Pope said. “Getting deflections when they try to make that pocket pass. Like, he’s very active when he’s up on the screens and causing some high passes.”
Caldwell-Pope went to the bench to have his right hand treated late in the fourth quarter after an impressive defensive stand against Anfernee Simons on the wing. At some point while defending Simons one-on-one or contesting his shot, Caldwell-Pope had dislocated his pinky finger on his shooting hand, which was bandaged up later that night after team medical staff popped it back into place on the sideline. Caldwell-Pope said he thinks he’ll be available to play Sunday, and that there was no broken bone or fear of ligament damage.
“That’s one of the better defensive possessions I’ve seen in a long time,” Malone said.
At what point in the possession did the finger injury occur?
“I could not tell you,” Caldwell-Pope said, laughing. “I didn’t even realize. I realized it when I was walking to the bench. … It just popped out of place, so they popped it back in. But yeah, I don’t know what happened on that sequence.”
After 13 consecutive inactive games, rookie Julian Strawther was available off the bench for the first time since Jan. 4 at Golden State. Strawther, who has been out with a right knee contusion and sprain, didn’t end up playing even though he was cleared. Malone anticipated that would be the case before opening tip, saying the Nuggets plan to assign Strawther to the Grand Rapids Gold for a brief stay.
“He’s been playing some small side games against the coaches, a few of the other players. But I think this is why you have a G League team,” Malone said. “We may use the G League to try to send him down there, get some practices, maybe get a game in. Just kind of get that game feel, if that makes any sense, before bringing him back. But I talked to him this morning. He’s feeling really good. He’s excited to be back in a uniform.”
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