It was a roller coaster ride in the game between the Denver Nuggets and Orlando Magic tonight. Luckily for Denver, the ride was mostly highs and ended the right way with them grabbing the victory. Nikola Jokic got yet another triple double, there were multiple flurries from Jamal Murray and the Nuggets built a big enough lead that it could withstand multiple comeback efforts from the Magic. At the final buzzer it was Denver on top 126-115.
The Magic got off to a hot start and took an early lead behind some threes. Denver then responded by going to Jokic and tightening up their defense. Despite trailing 8-2 early, the Nuggets tied it at twelve all after Spencer Jones generated a fast break with a steal and then finished it with a dunk on the other end. Orlando hit the next couple baskets before Julian Strawther made his first appearance in many games and immediately drove for a layup. The Nuggets were otherwise sloppy as quarter progressed and that led to a Magic run that brought their lead to double digits. Both offenses went cold after that and the score was 29-19 Orlando with two minutes left. Denver used their twin towers lineup with Jokic and Jonas Valanciunas which worked well and allowed them to tighten the score to 33-27 after one.
The second quarter did not start out well for the Nuggets who continued to be sloppy with the basketball. The lead quickly ballooned to eleven while David Adelman was trying to find the right combo of bench players to get Denver going. Eventually he gave up and got Murray, Jokic and Cam Johnson back in the game which sparked an immediate Nuggets run. In the middle of it, Jokic officially passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA’s all time assist leader for centers. Denver got back within three points with about five minutes left. The three point line was their weapon of choice, after Johnson knocked down another they tied the game at fifty-one. The Magic were suddenly cold and the Nuggets were on fire. Murray buried a three, Jokic got an and-1 (plus a technical foul on Goga Bitadze) and Murray hit another three…and then another. It all amounted to 20 points in the quarter for Murray and a 22-3 run to close out the half which finished with Denver leading 68-54.
It was more of the same to open the second half as Denver stretched the lead to eighteen. Eventually Orlando decided to play some defense (Denver was also not going to get the benefit of the whistle with such a large lead) and that got them a couple easy buckets and a timeout from Adelman. That calmed things down for Denver but the Magic were chipping away behind Paolo Banchero. After another layup from him, the Nuggets lead was just eleven with under four minutes to go. Denver refocused through Jokic, he got Bitadze one on one in the post and made him look silly with a spin move. The Nuggets pushed the lead back up to sixteen and went to the fourth leading 99-85.
Denver’s bench unit looked strong to open the final frame. Valanciunas was bullying the Magic and getting points in the paint. The Nuggets started to look like they were going to pull away but as was often the case tonight, they got sloppy and let Orlando go on a run. After the Magic had pulled back within twelve the Nuggets put their starters back in to restore order. Murray was back to his cooking ways and helped push the lead back up near twenty. They stalled out after that and looked hesitant offense while the Magic started hitting threes. Denver looked in danger of letting one slip away with the Magic getting all the momentum heading into the final two minutes. Orlando went on a 15-3 run before Jokic decided the game would not be lost. He secured his triple double and hit some clutch shots to close it out. Nuggets get the victory 126-115.