Entry 17: "Great Win!"
After A Close Win Against Indiana, The Denver Nuggets Are Now Tied For First In The West
By: Liz
January 23, 2024
Hello! Before we begin, I am going to talk for a second. You’re more than welcome to skip to the important stuff, or you can read this short paragraph, either way works for me. Two things: 1. I have a second article that will come out alongside this one from the Warriors game a while back that I wasn’t able to upload, and 2. I’m definitely back now! I needed to take some time to myself to make sure I wasn’t burning myself out, and unfortunately that came at this blog's expense. I have a much lighter class schedule this semester, so I should have more time to write these articles for you all. So, before I ramble on forever, I’ll just say I’m sorry for the inconsistency, and I’m going to pick it back up in this last stint of the regular season. Anyways, back to the article.
The Denver Nuggets earned their third-straight win tonight, defeating the Indiana Pacers 114-109. What a game this was, it was close almost literally until the very last second. This was a really good game, aside from some poor calls, of course. Let’s get into it.
Indiana has a great, young team. After recently trading Bruce Brown to the Toronto Raptors, the Pacers acquired Pascal Siakam and it already looks like he is going to fit in perfectly with that team. Siakam had 16 PTS on 7/16 shooting [43.7%], 10 REB, and 4 AST in 33 minutes, T.J. McConnell had 17 PTS on 7/11 shooting [63.6%; 1/1 3PT] and 7 AST in 21 minutes, but the star for Indiana tonight was Myles Turner who ended with 22 PTS on 8/18 shooting [44.4%; 6/7 FT] and 6 REB in 37 minutes. Indiana isn’t an easy team to beat, the Nuggets knew that by the end of this game.
We’ll move on to the Nuggets now, actually. Three of the starters were in double-figures, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Jamal Murray, and Nikola Jokić, while Michael Porter Jr. and Aaron Gordon didn’t quite make double-digits. Gordon was only one point away (9 PTS), but Porter was only half-way there (5 PTS). However, despite this, the other three were able to keep them afloat and get the win. Caldwell-Pope had 13 PTS on 5/12 shooting [41.7%; 2/6 3PT], 5 REB, and 1 STL in 35 minutes, a great game for KCP.
However, the show was stolen by the dynamic duo known as Blue Arrow and The Joker. Jamal Murray ended his night with 31 PTS on 11/24 shooting [45.8%; 3/9 3PT], 8 REB, and 7 AST in 37 minutes, and Nikola Jokić also had 31 PTS [13/19 shooting (68.4%)]; But along with those 31 PTS, he also had 13 REB and 10 AST in 37 minutes. This was Joker's 118th career triple-double as well as his 13th of the season, and this leaves him with ONE team to get a triple-double against [Washington Wizards]. On top of that, he hit the biggest shot of the game with less than 10 seconds left in the game!
Denver plays the Knicks on Friday in New York, can they pull out another win? We’ll just have to wait and see.
Hello again! In case you did skip the first paragraph, I just want to let you know that there is a second one up right now as well! Feel free to check it out if you want too!
References:
NBA (2024) Jokic Saves Nuggets In Indy: Box Score NBA.com https://www.nba.com/game/den-vs-ind-0022300614/box-score
Statmuse (2024) How Many Career Triple Doubles Does Jokic Have? Statmuse.com https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/how-many-career-triple-doubles-does-jokic-have