Grades: Denver Nuggets rolling on the road

The Denver Nuggets picked up their fifth straight win and fourth straight of their five-game road trip in Miami Wednesday night. No star performance lifted them over the top this time—instead, a balanced effort, including contributions from some players who’ve been trending down of late. Will Barton set the tone in the first quarter, Paul Millsap stopped the bleeding in the third, and the Ja(mikes) carried the Nuggets over the finish line.

Let’s hit the grades:

Nikola Jokić – A-

Jokić picked up a comfortable 21 points, 11 rebounds, and three assists on 9/14 from the field. He played well, but his body language wasn’t always great. Jokić’s numbers are coming back down to earth as his teammates begin to contribute around him, naturally. But looking outside of the boxscore, it seems like he’s trending towards a funk. Perhaps he’s just tired, for which no one would blame him. Am I worried about Jokić? No. But this was one of my main takeaways from his performance.

Jamal Murray – B-

Murray was inefficient from the field and produced some lowlights on the defensive end. However, he did shoot 2-4 from deep and got involved in other ways with 5 rebounds and 4 assists.

Gary Harris – A

Harris put forth an excellent performance. He drew the Duncan Robinson assignment, and with Miami down several key players, shutting down Robinson was particularly important Wednesday night. Harris got right to work, disallowing Robinson to find an early rhythm. On the offensive end, Harris recorded seven assists — a team-high. It was quite a sight watching him put the ball on the floor and create for his teammates the way he did. It’s been years since we’ve seen it to that extent.

Will Barton – B-

Barton set the tone for the eventual blowout with a monster first quarter. He put up 10 points, 3 rebounds, and 1 assist on 4/6 from the field in his first 11:07 of action. Unfortunately, that was more or less the full extent of his contributions. The wheels nearly fell off in the third quarter, and a lot of that falls on Barton, who turned it over multiple times with some lazy passes. Nonetheless, it was nice to see him contribute.

Paul Millsap – B-

Speaking of that third quarter, it took a deep Millsap three to snap Denver out of a scoreless drought that nearly derailed the blowout. He scored 5 in 7:34 in the third. A modest contribution in a vacuum, but those points woke Denver up before it was too late. All told, he finished with 11 points, 7 rebounds (3 OREB), and 3 assists on 5/9 shooting.

Michael Porter Jr. – A-

This guy is something else. My irrational confidence in his shooting ability bleeds into my evaluation. I find myself labeling him “a little off” if a single shot strikes iron, only to check the box score and see he was efficient yet again. Porter finished with 17 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 steals on 7/12 from the field and 3/7 from deep. Perhaps his brightest moment followed his nadir. After air balling a three in the second half, on his next possession with the ball in his hands, he brought the ball up the floor and pulled up like it was time for a heat check. He drained it. Don’t overlook the four steals either. MPJ is making a winning impact out there.

JaMychal Green – A-

Green is a rock out there. He shot 3/7 from deep on his way to 15 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as well (3 OREB). He’s doing a little bit of everything out there and fitting nicely into virtually any lineup combination. My favorite moment of his was a successful DHO with Jokić, in which Green took the handoff, turned the corner, and then found MPJ in the dunker spot with a sweet dish just as the defense committed. Yeah, Ja(Mike).

Monte Morris – C+

Morris turned in an average performance Monday night. He did record five assists to just one turnover, but he was inefficient from the floor (2/9). His best moment of the night included his backcourt partner Facundo Campazzo. Facu found Morris along the baseline with a wicked one-hand slinger. Morris caught it kept it moving to the corner in one motion, resulting in a corner three. Perhaps that’s what the front office envisioned when they put the two playmakers alongside each other.

Facundo Campazzo – C

Campazzo didn’t hit any of his four shot attempts, but he ripped off a few sweet passes and settled down to play strong defense after allowing one brutal blow-by.

RJ Hampton – C+

Hampton got a little too cute with the rock after finding a lane to the rim with his exceptional burst. He missed his best opportunity at non-garbage-time points., but man, this guy is quick — albeit still unpolished. Before the game, Malone mentioned pregame he would lean on Hampton as we await an official timetable for PJ Dozier’s return. While Denver probably doesn’t want Hampton making too many decisions with the ball in his hands, they likely appreciate his effort and approach in other areas. He’s sticking his nose into every rebound opportunity and never too far away from a loose ball.

Clean Up Crew (Markus Howard, Bol Bol, Vlatko Cancar, Zeke Nnaji) – A

The victory cigar lineup took the court together to clean up the blowout, and they actually played well! Those four players finished an inconsequential +4 together—the perfect cherry on top of a much-needed blowout.