Nuggets coast past Magic, now tied with Portland for eighth in the West

 

DENVER — After scoring 140 points across the pond in London last week, the Denver Nuggets came back stateside and continued their offensive onslaught, coasting to a 125-112 win over the Orlando Magic.

It was smooth sailing for Denver, who shot 58 percent from the field behind another standout performance from Nikola Jokic who finished with career-high 30 points to go with 11 rebounds, five assists, and three steals in 35 minutes. Jokic also finished with only two fouls.

“It’s fun to play with him,” Kenneth Faried said. “He’s a willing passer, he doesn’t care who scores the point as long as we win, and that’s a great player to play with.”

The Magic did make a small 16-13 run to start the quarter to cut Denver’s advantage to 12 midway through the fourth, then trimmed it to 11 with a little under three minutes remaining, but never seriously threatened the Nuggets’ lead.

The Nuggets had scored 30 or more points in seven straight quarters until tonight’s fourth where they finished with 25.

“One thing we’re really trying to stress is cutting,” Michael Malone said. “We have guys who are willing to make the pass. If you cut to the basket there’s a good chance you’re going to wind up with the ball.”

Elsewhere for Denver. Emmanuel Mudiay finished with 16 points and a career-high 13 assists. Jameer Nelson chipped in 18 points off the bench on 7-10 shooting, while Kenneth Faried had one of his strongest games of the season scoring 20 points on 10-12 shooting with five rebounds.

For Orlando, Elfrid Payton continued his strong play scoring 20 points and handing out 12 assists. Nikola Vucevic scored 17 points and Serge Ibaka finished with 15 points as well.

“To start the game it was a shootout, we were just shooting it better than them,” Malone said. “If we want to be a team that really wants to be a competitive team 50 percent (shooting from the Magic) is unacceptable and we shouldn’t be happy about it.”

Throughout tonight’s first half, it was a typical Nuggets offensive performance. The third-best offense in the league over the past 15 games was up to their same old tricks.

Jokic scored 16 of his 22 first-half points in the opening quarter as Denver shot a blistering 60 percent from the field in the first half and 40 percent from three.

The Nuggets were scoring with ease and totaled 69 points at the half, but couldn’t limit Orlando who scored 61 themselves on 53 percent shooting.

A quick 9-2 Denver run to open the second half pushed the Nuggets lead to 15, from there, Denver coasted to its second-straight win.

“Offensively, it was another great night,” Malone said.” “You have 125 points, you have 33 assists and 76 points in the paint which are all outstanding.”

With the win, the Nuggets move to 16-23 on the season. They’re now tied with the Portland Trail Blazers for the eighth seed in the Western Conference.

Postgame video

Footnotes

Gary Harris suffered a right ankle sprain in the first quarter and did not return. Harris had X-rays but they came back negative.

What’s next

Denver is in Los Angeles for a game against the Lakers Tuesday night. They then go to San Antonio for a matchup with the Spurs Thursday.