DENVER — Nikola Jokic has made so many pretty passes that by the end of Saturday night, he didn’t need to look.
He swung a no-look dime to Aaron Gordon midway through the fourth quarter to notch his NBA-leading 18th triple-double, and the Nuggets won, again, this time knocking off the visiting Atlanta Hawks, 128-108 for their third win in a row. Denver improved to 37-16 on the season and 18-0 in games where Jokic registers a triple-double.
But despite another efficient triple-double, Jokic’s counterpart, Jamal Murray, turned Ball Arena into his own personal practice court. Murray reeled off a season-high 41 points, capping his outlandish showing with an emphatic dunk off a Nuggets steal.
“An aggressive Jamal, a confident Jamal, is a scary Jamal,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said.
Murray drained seven 3-pointers, bobbing his head and beckoning to the crowd as the number rose higher and higher. It was Murray’s third consecutive game with at least 30 points.
Michael Porter Jr. added 23 points, and the Nuggets got a comfortable win with a back-to-back scheduled for Minnesota on Sunday.
Jokic ended the night with 14 points, 18 rebounds and 10 assists in 34 minutes of work. As a team, Denver dished 32 assists to just 13 turnovers.
Without Trae Young, Dejounte Murray paced the Hawks with 28 points. Denver’s 15 3-pointers were overwhelming.
Once again, Nuggets guard Bones Hyland didn’t get in the game. He was active and engaged on the team’s bench, though his name continued to be mentioned in trade rumors ahead of Thursday’s deadline.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope rolled his right ankle early in the contest after landing on a defender’s foot. Although he momentarily returned to the game, Caldwell-Pope was in street clothes for the second half.
The Nuggets did their best to run away with the game in the third quarter. Murray stalked shots like he was hunting and tallied 30 before the third quarter was over. On one sequence, Jokic corralled a defensive rebound and found Porter sprinting the floor in transition for an easy basket. And between Bruce Brown and Christian Braun, both injected a measure of tenacious defense that flustered the Hawks. Brown seemed to get his hands in numerous passing lanes, while Braun was the beneficiary of a monster transition dunk.
Although Atlanta chipped away at the lead, Denver maintained a 97-86 edge going into the final quarter.
Without Hyland, Brown has become an invaluable component of the team’s roster construction.
“How versatile he is, playing the backup one, playing with Jamal at times, the defense he provides,” said Malone when he was asked about Brown before the game.
Aside from Brown, Malone also raved about the team’s elder statesmen, crediting them for establishing a culture of accountability inside the locker room.
“We have unbelievable veterans,” Malone said, referring to Ish Smith, Jeff Green, DeAndre Jordan and Caldwell-Pope. Their buy-in, regardless of whether they’re playing on a given night, has been integral to Denver’s tightknit locker.
The Nuggets played unselfish, pass-happy basketball in the first half en route to a 70-52 lead at the break. With 19 assists to just two turnovers, the Nuggets, as a team, had the ball on a string and consistently bypassed good looks for great ones.
Murray was on fire, ending the first half with 22 points, four 3-pointers and six assists. Porter scored 16, doing his damage from the mid-range and the 3-point line. Per usual, Jokic didn’t need the ball in his hands to dominate. He ended the half with eight points, six assists and 11 rebounds.
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