Rockets blitz Nuggets with 75-point first half, cruise to victory

How would Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone and his team cope with the loss of Paul Millsap?

That was the biggest question facing the Nuggets with Millsap, who could miss three months with a sprained left wrist, not with the team for tonight’s matchup against the Houston Rockets.

And, boy, did Denver miss its starting power forward. After clanging their first six field goal attempts off the rim to open the game, the Rockets hit 26 of their next 32 shots, converted on eight of their 14 attempts from distance in the first half and blitzed Denver to a 75-40 advantage at the break.

That was all the Rockets needed to breeze to a 125-95 win and their league-leading 14th victory of the season.

To cope with Millsap’s absence, Malone started Will Barton on the wing, slid Wilson Chandler down to the power forward spot to match up with P.J. Tucker and Houston’s first five that was without Ryan Anderson (illness) to keep pace with the Rockets’ fast-paced offense. Houston came into Wednesday’s slate of games with the league’s second-most efficient attack.

There was a span in the first half from the 8:30 mark of the first quarter through 30 seconds before halftime where Houston shot 26-29 from the field and 8-10 from three.

The Rockets flexed their offensive muscle against Denver who didn’t bring it defensively.

Houston racked up 75 first-half points on 70.3 percent shooting and forced Denver into nine turnovers. The Rockets also accumulated nine turnovers in the half.

Denver widdled Houston’s lead down to 21 and started the third on a 20-6 run but the Rockets quickly countered. 11 third-quarter points from Trevor Ariza and more subpar defensive play from the Nuggets ultimately did Denver in.

With the news coming down Tuesday afternoon that ligament damage could keep Millsap sidelined for an extended period of time, the two most drastic changes to Malone’s rotation involved Barton and Trey Lyles.

The former started and finished with 20 points, 17 of which came in the third. Barton scored 17 of Denver’s 27 points in the period. Lyles, who’s been out of Denver’s rotation for much of this season but played 16 and 19 minutes respectively over the Nuggets’ past two games, was Denver’s first big man off their bench and logged 23 minutes.

Lyles scored seven points on 3-7 shooting.

While Kenneth Faried started at power forward in Monday’s win in Sacramento — the Nuggets’ first game without Millsap — he didn’t play tonight.

Gary Harris chipped in 13 points for Denver.

The Nuggets survived a scare in the second quarter when Nikola Jokic, who finished with 17 points, six rebounds, three assists, and two steals, landed awkwardly on his right foot after a tip-in over a few Rockets’ defenders. After consulting with team doctors, Jokic went to Denver’s locker room but returned to the game minutes later.

Ankle injury for Nikola Jokic. pic.twitter.com/O67U4okZgp

— Harrison Wind (@HarrisonWind) November 23, 2017

Denver will try and regroup in time for Friday’s matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies who come to Denver without their point guard Mike Conley due to an Achilles injury.