Things haven’t been easy for the Nuggets this season, even though they’re winning by double digits.

Jamal Murray scored 21 of his 34 points on a 6-for-9 game in the third quarter, giving Denver a 25-point lead that was just enough to hold off Detroit’s late push in a 134-121 win Saturday night at Ball Arena to survive.

“I never had to put my starters back in and that’s a shame. But as you can see, I’m happy with the win,” Michael Malone said sarcastically. “I’m really excited.”

The Nuggets (17-13) improved to 6-0 this season after 24 hours off. Their latest consecutive triumph followed a defensive slump on Friday when they gave up 149 points to the Cavaliers.

Nikola Jokic scored 37 points, nine rebounds and eight assists, fueled by a 4-for-4 start from the 3-point line. Michael Porter Jr. went 5-for-7 from beyond the arc and scored 26 points.

But the Pistons, who won three straight, were remarkably adept at pulling off dramatic rallies. They tied it up in the fourth quarter and got within seven minutes with 2:35 to play after Denver was sloppy with the ball and complacently returned to defense.

“We blew the game tonight,” Malone said. “I’m just disappointed. We screwed up the game tonight. We tell (our players) at the start of the fourth quarter that the team has come back from big deficits and won many times this year. They never give up. This is a hard-playing team. … And everything we told them – they were going to run, they were going to crash, they were going to coast – we just let them do it.”

For the second straight game since Aaron Gordon suffered another right calf injury, Malone completed his starting unit with Russell Westbrook ahead of Peyton Watson, who had replaced Gordon at the four-man base during a 10-game absence earlier in the season. By choosing to go smaller, Denver pushed Porter to the four instead.

“It’s not set in stone (that Westbrook will start every game without Gordon),” Malone said. “…Russell was great for us as a starter. What he does out there: defensively, offensively, playmaking, toughness, hustle, energy – I think he’s been a really positive addition. So that’s part of it. When Russell starts we play really well. And we also played with Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland. One of the elite backcourts in the NBA. … Cade Cunningham and (Jaden) Ivey, that’s another really strong backcourt that we’ll have our hands full with.”

Cunningham and Ivey each scored 17 points in the loss. But Denver needed time to get the defense into the game. The Pistons got to the rim with ease off the dribble in the first quarter and scored 20 of their 38 points in the game. Cunningham had 11.

The second unit managed to set a different tone. In their last eight games, the Nuggets had won Jokic’s rest minutes by a total of 12 points and never finished worse than minus-seven during that span. Jokic’s first bench effort on Saturday was down two, steady enough to keep a small deficit from spiraling out of control. Aside from Ausar Thompson’s dirty dunk over Watson as Jokic prepared to return, Detroit’s diet of inside baskets was running low. Denver took a 67-61 halftime lead and ultimately remained undefeated this season after leading to halftime.

But first, the Nuggets’ starters had to step up in the final stanza after the worst bench effort in recent weeks.

“There are still 30 games left. “It’s maybe about finding other people out there that you can trust,” Malone said, later adding that Denver’s problems are more than “a young people’s problem.”

“And if Aaron is out, that obviously messes up your rotations and stuff,” he said. “But just find a group of guys who are capable of going out there and doing the right things for as long as possible. We have it sometimes. We have it from game to game, we have it from quarter to quarter, we have it from half to half. But it was just too inconsistent, and that’s why we’re 17-13.”

Westbrook’s fourth-quarter turnovers played a role in Detroit’s run, but he had also provided the vital spark beforehand. After declining an offensive foul, the veteran point guard received a warning for delay of game while pleading his case. He then vented his remaining frustration by chasing Cunningham, who tried to separate from him to receive the ensuing pass in the backfield. Cunningham had enough, kicked off and handed the ball back to Denver. Westbrook stalked past the Detroit bench, chirping with the enemy and cheering on the crowd.

Cunningham and Isaiah Stewart each received technical fouls in the next few minutes. Murray seized the momentum and scored 13 points for the Nuggets during a 20-6 run in the final 3:10 minutes of the third quarter. The exclamation point was a steal and dunk with five seconds left.

“(The Pistons) just got us going, so we answered the call, that’s all,” Murray said. “If you watch the game you can see who spoke. But like I said, they got us going. Russ started it and we never looked back.”

Originally published: December 28, 2024 at 9:55 pm MST