DETROIT — When the Nuggets play two days in a row, their motor seems to only intensify.
Bringing this most unusual trait to the Motor City on Friday, they hammered the hottest team in the NBA, ending the Pistons’ eight-game win streak with a convincing 134-119 victory.
Jamal Murray led Denver with 31 points, including five 3-pointers. Nikola Jokic got to the free-throw line for 11 attempts en route to 23 points, 17 rebounds and 15 assists. Christian Braun was beneficiary of many of his passes, making 10 of 14 shots in a 23-point performance.
And Michael Porter Jr. bounced back from his 5-for-22 showing Thursday in Milwaukee by dropping 28 points and nine boards. He went 6 for 7 from the perimeter.
The Nuggets (39-21) improved to 11-1 on the second game of back-to-backs this season. They’ll finish their four-game road trip through the Eastern Conference with a Sunday matinee (11 a.m.) in Boston.
First, they pulled away from Detroit with a 15-0 run in the middle of the third quarter, spanning four minutes of excellent two-way basketball. Denver held Pistons star guard Cade Cunningham to 11 points on 3-of-12 shooting.
Aaron Gordon didn’t play due to a left ankle sprain, the severity of which remained unclear as of Friday. Michael Malone expects more clarity by Sunday, when the Nuggets finish their road trip in Boston.
“I think he had a moment last night (in Milwaukee). … Give him a lot of credit for fighting through and getting through that game, but he definitely wasn’t moving the way we’ve become accustomed to seeing him move,” Malone said. “So I think he must have rolled it.”
Gordon has now missed 24 games this season, most of them from a calf strain. With him and Peyton Watson both sidelined, Zeke Nnaji started and made an immediate impact. He had three blocks, two assists and two trips to the foul line in the first six minutes, though he also seemed to be pushing through lower leg pain after hitting the deck in an early sequence.
Malone got ejected in Detroit the last time he was in town. He was on pace to outdo himself Friday. He picked up a technical foul 49 seconds into the game for confronting an official about Detroit’s physicality while the Nuggets were in the middle of their second possession. They fell behind 5-0 before they started to embrace the pressure. Murray, face-guarded by Ausar Thompson, blew by for a layup. Nnaji wrestled for an offensive rebound and kicked to Braun for a spot-up three. Denver went up 30-12.
Even after a Malik Beasley heat check revived the Pistons, it felt like Malone’s technical was making a difference. The Pistons were the team struggling with composure, even on their home court. Ron Holland II picked up a transition foul for tangling himself with Russell Westbrook, briefly causing players from both teams to meet at the scene of the crime and discuss.
With a few seconds left in the first half, Isaiah Stewart sprinted the length of the court in frustration after picking up his fourth foul. He was punished for the performative act with a technical. Coach JB Bickerstaff seemingly had to hold him back. Jalen Duren got a tech from the bench the next quarter.
Beasley, a former Nuggets marksman, led the Pistons with 16 points off the bench. He now leads the NBA in 3-pointers this season.
“He’s had quite the journey,” Malone said. “And right before he was traded away from us, I thought he had really kind of found himself. And that second unit that we had at that time, Monte (Morris), Malik and Mason (Plumlee), I thought they had just great on-court chemistry. … Malik (was) a guy that just you could see the confidence that was there. … That confidence comes from a lot of work, repetitions.”
Want more Nuggets news? Sign up for the Nuggets Insider to get all our NBA analysis.