Nikola Jokic logs triple-double as Nuggets dominate Pelicans

Before Friday night’s game, Nuggets coach Michael Malone said he doesn’t believe in “statement games” during the regular season.

Fair enough. But the Nuggets’ 125-113 domination of the Pelicans at Ball Arena spoke volumes.

The Nuggets, coming off a lackluster effort in a 124-111 loss at Utah on Wednesday night, played with energy, creativity and unselfishness to halt New Orleans’ seven-game road winning streak.

“We got kind of embarrassed on national TV the other night, so we kind of wanted to redeem ourselves tonight,” Michael Porter Jr. said.

The play of the game — and perhaps the pass of the season — came from Nikola Jokic. Who else? With 33.6 seconds left in the second quarter, Jokic, with his back turned away from the hoop,  tossed a blind, over-the-head pass to Aaron Gordon who was streaking to the basket along the baseline. Gordon slammed home a jam for a 66-48 lead.

“We know (Jokic) can do that, but we are still amazed when he does,” Porter said. “Nikola pretty much has eyes in the back of his head. He can see the floor at all times.”

Malone conjured up some of basketball’s all-time great sleight-of-hand masters when he talked about Jokic’s pass.

Malone said that Jokic’s play to Gordon was drawn up beforehand, but, Malone said, “I didn’t imagine the over-the-head pass. When you are a young kid and you’re watching NBA basketball, that’s Magic Johnson, that’s “Pistol Pete” Maravich — the guys who just had this pizzaz to their games.”

Jokic didn’t seem all that impressed by his magic trick, perhaps because he’d done it before.

“Yes, I remember I did the exact same thing against Indiana,” he said. “The exact same pass.”

So, what did Jokic see Friday night?

“I just saw (Gordon) in the blink of an eye and I wanted to pass it to him as quick as I can,” he said. “I think he was open in that moment, not a moment after, so that was the quickest way to get him the ball.”

Jokic, once again a leading candidate for the NBA’s MVP, painted a pretty linescore: 27 points, 14 assists and 10 rebounds. He has now posted a triple-double in each of his last five games against the Pelicans. Friday marked the 117th triple-double of his career, the fourth-most in NBA history. He’s 21 triple-doubles behind Magic Johnson for third on the league’s all-time leaderboard.

In the first two games against the Pelicans this season, Jokic averaged 30 points, 15 rebounds and 15 assists.

Porter shot 8 of 12 from the floor to finish with 20 points and hauled in 10 rebounds. He put an exclamation point on his night with a rebound, put-back slam with 5 minutes left in the game that brought the crowd to its feet.

Disappointed in his team’s recent defensive play, Malone preached to his team about the need to play more aggressive perimeter defense.

It turns out he was preaching to the choir, at least in the opening quarter when Denver took a 37-25 lead, limiting the Pelicans to 3-for-10 shooting from beyond the arc. The Nuggets, meanwhile, sizzled, sinking five of their seven 3s, two of them from Peyton Watson off the bench.

“The last five games, the Pelicans were outscoring their opponents 33-23 in the first quarter,” Malone said. “Our goal tonight was to win the first quarter and I thought the way that we started the game was tremendous. Nikola came out aggressive, Jamal (Murray, 20 points, nine assists) was setting everybody up and I thought Michael Porter had a terrific game tonight. The bench unit came in and contributed. This was a great team win.”

New Orleans shoots a lot of 3-pointers and that strategy had carried the Pelicans in recent games. They entered Friday’s game with the best shooting percentage from beyond the arc (42.7%) in the league since the In-Season Tournament ended in early December. Friday night, they ended up shooting 13 of 33 (39.4%).