DENVER — On a cold, blustery day in the Mile High City, the Denver Nuggets needed a spark to light a fire in the cavernous and mostly empty Pepsi Center.
That spark came in the form of a 6-foot-11 Serbian by the name of Nikola Jokic, who at just 20-years-old has filled that role more than once already this season, and tonight carried Denver to a 112-93 win over the Toronto Raptors — who came into Denver winners of 11 in a row.
After scoring in double figures each of his last two game, Jokic didn’t let up tonight against a Toronto defense that held the No. 2 DefRtg in the league over their 11-game win streak.
Jokic, who finished with a career high 27 points on 12-18 shooting, 14 boards and 4 assists in just under 30 minutes. He scored Denver’s first 11 points of the game and added an assist and block in the game’s opening five minutes. He also pushed the ball in transition on two separate occasions in the first quarter and displayed excellent verticality defending against Jonas Valanciunas on the block.
“What a performance is right,” Malone said of Jokic. “His start and how he played. He’s such a great passer, that set the tone for the night, I thought.”
It was an encouraging start and finish from the rookie who was selected for the Rising Stars Challenge in Toronto as a part of All-Star weekend which is just a little under two weeks away.
“Every time I think he’s kind of maxed out for his rookie season, he finds a way to keep on impressing me,” Malone said. “I hope he keeps on doing that because he’s a hell of a talent and I’m just really happy he’s a part of our organization.”
Jokic’ 15 first half points on 7-10 shooting led the way for the Nuggets who dished out 17 assists on 25 made field goals through the first two quarters. They led 60-49 at the half behind a red hot 54.3 percent shooting from the field.
The Nuggets lengthened their lead to 15 after the third behind, yes, Jokic who decisively ran the floor in transition and feasted on the glass, grabbing six rebounds in the quarter alone. DeMar DeRozan kept Toronto relevant with seven third quarter points on his way to 24 points on 7-14 shooting for the game. Once Raptors coach Dwayne Casey pulled starting frontcourt duo Luis Scola and Jonas Valanciunas after just 3:31 had passed in the third and Toronto down 14, the writing was on the wall.
Denver increased their lead to 99-74 at the 5:57 mark of the fourth quarter after a perfectly executed lob from Randy Foye (16 pts on 6-7 shooting and 4-5 from three) who played admirably filling in for the injured Jameer Nelson, to Will Barton. Barton finished with a typical 20 points and seven rebounds off the bench, coming alive in the second half.
“I thought Will Barton and Randy Foye were terrific off the bench,” Malone said. “I thought Emmanuel, [nine] points, eight assists, one turnover was great. I thought our defense on Kyle Lowry was great, there were so many things you could talk about. But when you outscore your opponent 60-26 in the paint, good things are going to happen.”
Denver let DeRozan go off, but held All-Star starter Lowry in check. Lowry had just 10 points on 3-12 shooting.
“We swept this team, and even the game up in Toronto when we beat them, we held Kyle,” Malone said. “So I don’t know for whatever reason, we’ve done a great job guarding him.”
WHERE/WHEN
Pepsi Center, Denver, Colorado – Feb. 1 2016. – Game No. 49
STAR OF THE GAME
With a career high 27 points to go with 14 rebounds and 4 assists in just under 30 minutes, tonight was all about Jokic.
PLAYS OF THE GAME
Jokic blocks Valanciunas and leads the break.
Jokic to Harris who puts Luis Scola to sleep.
Barton scales Pike’s Peak for the slam.
BY THE NUMBERS
NBA.com
QUOTE OF THE GAME
Malone had this to say when I asked him about Jokic’ ceiling:
“Well every time I think he’s kind of reached his rookie ceiling, the game he had tonight, I mean you can talk about some of these very young bigs who are very talented, the kid in New York, Minnesota, Philly. I don’t know any of their names. I know this kid’s name though. I know Nikola Jokic and I wouldn’t trade him for anybody in the world. He’s a special young man, he’s a special young talent and he’s only going to get better as he continues to get stronger, learn the NBA, finishing around the basket, defensively. But he’s a heck of a young talent, I give a lot of credit to Tim Connelly and the front office for finding him and making him a part of this organization.”
WHAT’S NEXT
Denver travels to Utah then returns home to host Chicago before setting out on four game road trip where they visit the Knicks, Nets, Piston and Kings.
