Five Observations: Emmanuel Mudiay turns in one of his best games in a Nuggets uniform

The Denver Nuggets finally got a road win. It’d been close to three weeks since the Nuggets won away from Pepsi Center, but they finally accomplished that feat again by beating the Orlando Magic 103-89 Friday. Here are five observations from the game.

1. Emmanuel Mudiay — aggressive but under control

It’s a hard balance to strike for a young player in the NBA — being aggressive but not forcing it. Emmanuel Mudiay’s decision-making struggles are well documented since he came into the league. Friday represented progress. Mudiay played one of his best games as a pro.

Mudiay scored 18 points (8-16 FG), grabbed five rebounds and dished out five assists. Mudiay hit 2-5 of the threes he attempted and did a nice job finishing at the rim. His playmaking really stuck out. Mudiay was whipping lasers all over the floor. In the second quarter, he threw a gorgeous behind-the-back pass to Kenneth Faried.

In the third quarter, he threw a dime to Faried while double-teamed to beat the buzzer.

Faried scored 20 points on 10 shots. He and Mudiay worked well off one another. Both were big reasons why Denver’s bench outscored Orlando’s 53-16.

2. Malik Beasley takes advantage of rotation minutes

On Wednesday in New Orleans, Malik Beasley received some rare rotation minutes. Nuggets coach Michael Malone said he inserted Beasley into the lineup in an effort to spark Denver’s woeful defense.

Two days later, Beasley was back in the rotation. He was the first sub off the bench against the Magic. Beasley took advantage of the opportunity. He hit his first four shots of the game and finished 12 points, four rebounds and three assists.

Beasley looked as confident as he ever has on the offensive end. He was active on the boards. And he played some solid defense. Don’t be surprised to see Beasley stay in the rotation going forward.

3. Denver finally played some defense

Keeping opponents under 100 points has been a tough task for the Nuggets this season. Keeping them under 90 points has been a near-impossible one. Only once prior to Denver’s win over Orlando had it held another team under the 90-point mark. On Oct. 21, the Nuggets beat a bad Kings team 96-79. On Friday, they finally did it again.

Denver limited Orlando to 89 points on 39.8 percent shooting. The Magic scored 25 points in the first quarter, then were held to 23, 22 and 19 over the final three quarters.

Malone was frustrated after his team gave up 123 points to the Pelicans on Wednesday.

“My message is stop feeling sorry for yourself,” he said on Altitude TV’s post-game broadcast. “Take pride in your defense. Because if you don’t, the same thing is going to keep happening.”

His team did a much better job two days later.

4. Gary Harris keeping the defender off balance

Gary Harris was held scoreless in the first half. But once the whistle blew to signal the start of the third quarter, Harris came out firing. He scored Denver’s first 10 points of the second half, doing so with funky fakes and feigns and a well-timed back cut.

Harris seems to constantly be adding stuff to his game. He’s a knockdown three-point shooter and an elite finisher at the rim. Against Orlando, he showed us a facet of his game rarely seen: trickery in the in-between zones.

5.  Will Barton, transition gawd

How many NBA players are better transition scorers than Will Barton? Two? Three? Maybe four? Barton entered Friday’s game averaging 1.26 points per possession in transition opportunities, the fourth-best mark among players who’ve scored at least 100 transition points this season.

Every game, Barton does something ridiculous in the open floor. Look at this left-to-right fake he pulled off in the fourth quarter.

Somewhere, Chris Berman was sitting at a country club playing cards and reflexively yelled “WHOOP” when this happened.