Entry 14: "The Nuggets Are So Back"
After A Tough Road Trip The Denver Nuggets Had Quite The Bounce-Back Game
By: Liz
November 26, 2023
Though the first big road trip of the season didn’t go exactly as planned for the Denver Nuggets, their first game back in Denver did not disappoint. The best player in the world versus the 2023 number one draft pick? It was a game fans, commentators, and analysts were anxious to see, and man was it one for the books. A 132-120 win for the Nuggets will hopefully put a little pep back into their step going into Los Angeles tomorrow.
I won’t keep you too long, since it’s almost 10:00 here and I have an early class, so I’ll just jump right into it. The San Antonio Spurs have had a rough beginning to their season, coming into this game 3-13, the worst start head coach, Gregg Popovich, has ever had. Despite this, though, all eyes have been and were on Rookie Of The Year candidate, Victor Wembanyama. Wemby had 22 PTS on 7/17 shooting [41.2%; 2/5 3PT], 11 REB, 2 AST, 6 STL, and 4 BLK in about 25 minutes tonight. That’s really impressive for a rookie, but he’s just meeting the expectations being set for him as the number one pick. He wasn’t alone in tonight's loss, Devin Vassel had 19 PTS on 7/13 shooting [53.8%; 4/7 3PT], 3 AST, and 1 STL in a little over 26 minutes. The Spurs have a very bright future ahead of them, it won’t be too long before they’re stacked again and back in the competition for a title. However, Denver will get a few more before they can reach that goal.
Speaking of Denver, the Nuggets had 45 REB and 38 AST as a team in this game. That in itself is a huge deal considering the way they’d been playing during the road trip. On top of things, four of five starters were in double figures tonight: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope with 16, Reggie Jackson with 20, Michael Porter Jr. with 25, and Nikola Jokić with 39. That’s great, but we’ll dive further into the two leading scorers. Michael Porter Jr. had himself a time, 25 PTS on 8/14 shooting [57.1%; 4/9 3PT], 7 REB, and 2 AST in about 33 minutes. Stellar performance from MPJ. And, of course, the best player in the world, Nikola Jokić, ended his night with 39 PTS on 17/29 shooting [58.6%; 5/5 FT], 11 REB, and 9 AST in a little over 34 minutes. Incredible, absolutely incredible.
With the absence of Aaron Gordon tonight came the answer to one question the fans have been debating for a while this season: Who is the third option for the Denver Nuggets this season? MPJ or AG? To quote my friend Ray who weighed in on this subject, “We weren’t sure if MPJ or AG was the [third] option on the Nuggets, but I think now we can say it’s always been MPJ.” This is really an opinion based question to ask, there may be different answers based on who is asked.
Anyway, before I go on forever about that question, I’ll leave you all with one question: How are you feeling after this win? Thank you for reading, have a good night.
References:
NBA (2023) Nuggets School Spurs - Box Score NBA https://www.nba.com/game/sas-vs-den-0022300252/box-score