Emmanuel Mudiay returns, Denver Nuggets outlast Charlotte Hornets

DENVER — After missing 14 games with a deltoid sprain in his right ankle, Emmanuel Mudiay returned to action for the Denver Nuggets. He wasted little time getting involved in the game, as head coach Michael Malone started him in place of injured point guard Jameer Nelson, as he started 3-3 from the field. Mudiay nailed a jumper at the top of the key off a screen, a 3-pointer and finally a layup in traffic to start the game.

Mudiay was a big reason why the Nuggets were able to defeat the Charlotte Hornets, 95-92, in his aggressive return. Yes, he finished the night just 5-15 from the floor for 11 points, but he was initiating the Nuggets offense well, especially early, and was looking to get to the rim throughout the evening. In addition to his scoring, Mudiay collected 6 assists, 4 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 block.

“We were moving pretty fast in the first quarter,” said Mudiay. “And kind of in the second half. That’s the only thing I was really big on — we can’t play half court offense all the time. That’s not my game, that’s not a lot of our games — so we gotta speed it up.”

WHERE/WHEN

Pepsi Center – Denver, CO / Jan. 10th / Game Number 38

STAR OF THE GAME

It’d be easy to single out Danilo Gallinari here, and his 27 points were huge, but Gary Harris stood out in this contest — as did Mudiay. A large portion of Harris’ 36 minutes were spent defending the speedy Kemba Walker, the Hornets’ leading scorer at 19.3 points per game. Harris helped hold Walker to 3-12 shooting for 11 points. On the offensive end, Harris hit some huge shots and finished with 12 points on 4-8 shooting — including 3-5 from 3-point land.

“I thought Gary Harris did a terrific job of guarding Kemba Walker,” said Michael Malone. “who is more than a capable scorer.”

PLAYS OF THE GAME

Let’s start with Mudiay’s first 3-pointer of the night. In his first shot, he came off a screen and nailed a jumper towards the top of the key – good to see him moving well off screens. On this play he goes and gets the ball from Nikola Jokic on a handoff, Kemba Walker gets a bit confused as to where the ball will be going and gets caught under Jokic and Mudiay recognizes the space and fires up a nice ball from distance.

Nurkic and Will Barton haven’t had a ton of practice time together yet, so this pick-and-roll between the two was good to see. A brilliant pass from Barton and an even better finish from big Nurkic.

TURNING POINTS OF THE GAME

The Nuggets clogged toilet offense (shoutout Bill Simmons for the terminology) made an appearance in the second quarter as the Hornets outscored the Nuggets 30-17 — erasing Denver’s 36-26 first quarter lead quicker than those kids and their stackable cups.

With Denver down 82-80 in front of yet another listless home crowd, Mudiay helped breathe life back into the team with this play. He saves the ball under his own hoop, but recovers to Jeremy Lamb, steals the ball and finishes with a dunk on the other end. Huge play for the rookie point guard in his first game back.

But the Nuggets showed fight throughout the night and this chase-down block from Randy Foye was huge in preventing an easy bucket for the Hornets. Denver had a win probability of 91.9 percent after that Foye block.

BY THE NUMBERS

With Denver up 90-82 with 5:55 left in the fourth quarter with the ball, the Nuggets had a win probability of 91.9 percent.

Box Score from ESPN.com:

QUOTE OF THE GAME

“I’ve been watching a lot of film on other players,” said Mudiay. “Dwyane Wade is one of the real real good people on playing downhill, and when he gets in the paint he slows down. So, I watched a lot of that and it helped me just watching him, too.”

Mudiay was playing downhill tonight and it made the Nuggets look like a different team.

LASTING IMPACT

“We got to get some more action going on,” said Mudiay about playing with Nurkic. “That’s my first time playing with him. He didn’t play a lot of minutes tonight, but the more-and-more we play together, I’m pretty sure, the better we will be.”

The Nuggets started picking the Hornets apart late in the fourth quarter off of Mudiay and Nurkic pick-and-rolls. Here’s an example of Mudiay collapsing the Hornets defense off a Nurkic screen, and kicking the ball out to a wide open Mike Miller.

The Mudiay and Nurkic combination is going to be a fun one and one that disrupts the opposition’s defense.

WHAT’S NEXT

The Nuggets will face the Golden State Warriors for the final time in the regular season on Wed. Jan. 13th here at Pepsi Center. The Warriors lead the season series 3-0.