Michael Malone might never get over his phobia of short-handed draft lottery teams.
The Brooklyn Nets’ injury report had to be nightmare fuel for him. No Cameron Johnson, D’Angelo Russell, Cam Thomas, De’Anthony Melton, Bojan Bogdanovic or Trendon Watford. And the Nuggets were getting MVP center Nikola Jokic back after two games of sick leave.
“We went through their personnel and I said, ‘I’d bet a lot of money that most of you guys have never heard of some of these players or have any idea where they’ve played,’” Malone shared with reporters on Friday. “I’ve said this many, many times in my 10 years here: This game is scarier than playing Boston, than playing Cleveland.”
The Nuggets conquered his fears for the time being with a 124-105 win at Ball Arena, but they kept him on the edge of his seat most of the night. Brooklyn led 20-12 five minutes in, even after Malone had taken an early timeout to wake up his team. And in a game that often felt like it was moving at a snail’s pace with foul calls, the Nuggets gradually built a 22-point lead only to lull themselves back to sleep. The score was suddenly 97-92 early in the fourth quarter.
Jokic amassed 35 points, 12 rebounds, 15 assists and four steals in his return to the lineup. Russell Westbrook matched the defending MVP’s triple-double for the second time this season with 25 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. Aaron Gordon was upgraded to doubtful before the game but remained out with a calf strain, keeping Westbrook in the starting lineup.
“(Jokic) does a hell of a job making the game easy for everyone,” Westbrook said, “and since I’ve been here, I’ve been trying to do the same thing and find ways to be able to make the game easy for him and other guys. When we’re both doing that, our team is really good.”
Jokic and Westbrook are the first pair of teammates to record 25-point triple-doubles in the same regular-season game in NBA history. (Jokic and Jamal Murray had matching 30-point triple-doubles in a 2023 NBA Finals game.)
“You’re watching history, folks,” Malone said. “You’re watching history. This is the History Channel.”
Julian Strawther and Peyton Watson scored in double figures off the bench. Watson was on the outskirts of five-by-five watch at halftime, ending up with a 10-7-5-2-2 stat line. But Denver lost Jokic’s rest minutes by 14 points after playing two impressive games without him this week.
“If we think that we can just show up tonight and beat Brooklyn because a lot of their marquee names are out, then we’ll lose,” Malone had predicted.
The Nuggets (22-15) played with their food but stretched. But they ended the first half on a 20-11 run, carried on with a 17-5 start to the second half and finally pulled away with a 14-3 surge in the last six minutes. They got to the line for 33 free throw attempts in the win.
Keon Johnson led the Nets with 22 points. Tyrese Martin added 19 off the bench for a ragtag team that finished with seven double-digit scorers.
Malone went to Jalen Pickett for rotation minutes to combat foul trouble in the first half, with Christian Braun particularly endangered by three whistles. After the break, Pickett was needed again as Jamal Murray felt soreness in his left knee and didn’t return.
With two consecutive games coming up in Dallas, the Nuggets possess a half-game on the Mavericks for fourth place in the West. Denver is seven games above .500 for the first time this season.
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