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Will Barton, Nuggets extinguish red-hot Mavericks

February 7, 2017

DENVER – The Nuggets came into the matchup against a Dallas Mavericks team that had won four-straight games and were without Emmanuel Mudiay, Kenneth Faried, and Danilo Gallinari. They ended up playing some of the best defense of the year and left with a win of 110-87 over the Mavericks.

“It was all about taking care of business and concentrating on the task at hand and that was beating Dallas,” Michael Malone said after the victory over the Mavericks. “That team had won four in a row, they were 7-3 in their last ten, and had beaten some very good teams. To beat them as soundly as we did tonight was great to see and, once again, just really pleased with the defense, rebounding, and running. That is who we want to be. If we defend, rebound, and run we think we have a chance to be a pretty dangerous team.”

The first quarter started with Nikola Jokic hitting his first two shots but Jokic ended up committing two early fouls and had to be replaced early. Thankfully the rest of the quarter was the Will Barton show, who finished with 13 in the first frame. The Nuggets were playing with more energy and more intensity on the defensive end and the Mavericks were struggling to score in any way.

“Anytime you can hold a team to 87 points, 43 percent from the field, outscore them 23-4 in transition, and win the rebounding battle by 20 then you did a lot of good things,” Malone said. “I am proud of our guys. We are playing well and I am happy we can continue to win on our home court.”

Once Barton started to fade it was Jamal Murray who suddenly began impacting the games in a multitude of ways. Murray entered the game with the Nuggets leading 19-17 and when he went back to the bench the Nuggets had extended their lead to 44-33 behind the offensive execution of Murray, who managed to add on three blocks in the first half alone. Juancho Hernangomez continued doing everything at the speed of light and had himself a solid first half, and finished with seven points, nine rebounds, one steal, and one block and his presence was felt all over the court.

Denver went into halftime up big thanks to 19 first half points from Barton and the steady play from the point guard position of Murray. Overall the Nuggets played their best half of defense all year and went into the break up 59-37 over the Mavericks.

The Mavericks came out of halftime with six quick points building the momentum that would eventually see the Nuggets lead dwindle to 15 but the Nuggets refused to give in. Behind Barton’s unstoppable scoring and the defensive intensity of Hernangomez and Arthur, who finished with seven points, three rebounds, two assists, three blocks, and a steal. Denver kept the lead at 15 heading to the final quarter of basketball.

Jokic returned and once he picked up his fifth foul things started to get unstable for the Nuggets. Denver’s lead fell to just 12 without Jokic on the court. Thankfully, Barton stayed red-hot and continually bailed out the Nuggets’ offense eventually getting the lead ballooned back to 18. Barton finished with a monster night of 31 points, eight rebounds, five assists, and two blocks. The Mavericks did what they could to fight back but the lead was too insurmountable and Denver secures another win on their path to the playoffs to the tune of 110-87.

“I thought Will Barton tonight was fantastic,” Malone said. “His scoring, playmaking, and rebounding was a complete basketball game. I thought he had some great possessions defending as well. I thought Will was terrific.”