Nuggets Game Grades: Nikola Jokic shines bright against Hornets

The Denver Nuggets came into Charlotte looking to get back on track against an injury-depleted Hornets team. While, on paper, Denver should have been able to match well with the Hornets they came out ice cold shooting and looking exhausted.

Instead of Denver starting their four-game east coast road trip on a positive note, they put forth their worst game of the season and dropped a very winnable game by a score of 110-93.

Jamal Murray: C-

Murray came out and played with a level of aggression that had not been seen from him all year. He got up five shots in the first five minutes for six points and was getting into the paint at will. From then on out, Murray’s game started to go downhill as he tried to force his offense and his shot stopped falling. Murray ended up struggling for the rest of the night as did the rest of the team. He did play with tons of energy but nothing went Denver’s way tonight.

Gary Harris: B-

Harris also was ice cold shooting in the first half just like the rest of the roster outside of Jokic. He did play with tons of energy and his offense came back to him in the second half but nothing he did could stop the Hornets from raining down shots on the Nuggets. Harris did have a 13-point third quarter that brought Denver within 13 points after being down by as many as 27 but failed to make the fourth quarter more interesting than that. Solid game from Harris, who refused to give up against the Hornets.

Wilson Chandler: D

Chandler continues to look for his offensive role with the Nuggets to no avail. He does keep finding ways to help the Nuggets but overall he struggled like the rest of the roster. Overall, Chandler was largely a ghost against the Hornets and did not make much of an impact.

Paul Millsap: F

Millsap started the game doing all of the little things but, as the Nuggets began to fall apart, so did Millsap’s defense. Frank Kaminsky was scorching Millsap over and over again as he easily put up 14 first-half points. Millsap did not look engaged for much of the game as he let the Hornets get behind him in transition a couple times and was failing to close out with the same tenacity that he is known for. Bad game from Millsap all across the board.

Nikola Jokic: A

The only player who played well from start to finish for the Nuggets was Jokic. Not only was he shouldering the scoring load for Denver but he was also going toe-to-toe with Dwight Howard every step of the way while also playing hard on defense. Excellent game from Jokic considering how bad the rest of the team was in Charlotte.

Emmanuel Mudiay: F

Mudiay was downright awful to start the game and his bad play directly led to the Nuggets offense falling apart. He never recovered and struggled defensively from start to finish. This was by far the worst of the year from Mudiay, as it was for many other of his teammates.

Will Barton: D

Barton looked as exhausted as anyone on the court in Charlotte. In the first half, Barton air-balled two three-pointers and was not able to get to the rim like he is expected to do for the Nuggets offense. His inspired defensive aggression from the first three games had disappeared and he was unable to help make plays for his teammates either. Overall, it was not the best game of the year so far for Barton but he played hard from end to end even if ti didn’t translate to solid production.

Mason Plumlee: D+

Malone went to Plumlee as the first big off the bench and was not rewarded with a good stretch of basketball. Plumlee has moments where he looks really good and brings a sense of physicality but that is rarely alongside Jokic and against the Hornets Plumlee had as bad of a stretch as he has had in his tenure as a Denver Nugget. Plumlee did help the Nuggets get back into the game in the third quarter but he struggled for most of the game.

Michael Malone: F

The Nuggets did not show up to play against the Hornets in Charlotte and, being that everything seemed to go wrong for Denver against Charlotte, a big chunk of the blame needs to fall on Malone. Losing to Charlotte in this fashion is going to be a tough pill to swallow for Malone.