It’s been such a long time. It feels so good to be back. You’re not reading a roundtable or a regurgitation of an exhausting take on the NBA’s bubble down in Disney World, this is just a good old fashioned list, baby.
If you’ve kept your sanity, and if you still feel tethered to that enduring consciousness that carried you up until this most surreal time, “the times that we’re in,” then buried somewhere deep in your memory are the impressions left from the Denver Nuggets 2019-20 campaign.
It began innocently enough, with dreams and quotes of raising a banner, bubbling excitement over the fresh new talent added in the last two NBA drafts, and a lot of dialogue around the weight of one Nikola Jokić. Nuggets nation prepared itself for myriad outcomes, from an unlikely title run to a first-round slip-up, but we didn’t quite foresee the global pandemic. Not sure how that slipped under our radar.
It’s been 132 days since the Nuggets played their last game, and the NBA went on an indefinite hiatus. Now, just one day before the Nuggets’ first scrimmage of the restart, let us push through the fog and recall the best moments of a season that’s still searching for its conclusion.
10. PJ Dozier debuts with composure
Dozier debuted with the Nuggets on January 15, 2020, with the Charlotte Hornets in town. He scored 12 points, grabbed 4 total rebounds, and 2 assists. He shot 5/7 from the floor that night, including 2/4 from deep. As Dozier showed tremendous confidence and bursts of great play, it was hard not the let the imagination wander once again.
Dozier doesn’t just fit in as yet another young Nugget with promise. He fits an emerging new identity for Denver — he’s a ‘longboi’ and might provide Malone with even more lineup flexibility going forward. The Nuggets made it official, signing Dozier to a multi-year deal on June 30, 2020.
9. Jerami Grant sets career-high with his new team
The Nuggets didn’t take any big swings over the summer, but they did make one of the better pickups around the league when they swapped a first-round pick for Oklahoma City’s Jerami Grant. One of the best developments of the season is the injection of length mentioned above and the way it’s permeated the online fandom in Denver. This transaction might be the genesis of it all.
With the addition of Grant and the eventual loss of Malik Beasley, the former jumped straight the top of Denver’s unofficial athleticism rankings, immediately taking the crown as their most electrifying finisher around the rim. His length, bounce, and three-point shooting were a welcome addition, so it was all the more enjoyable to watch him officially baptize himself into the team when he set a new career-high on February 25.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IJWNoKvbSQ
8. Juancho Hernangomez gets his “great goodbye.”
Juancho didn’t see the court much during his final season in a Nuggets uniform before the trade with Minnesota. Despite having solidified himself as a fan favorite and one of the best friends of the team’s best player, there wasn’t a clear role for him on the hardwood, and he was included in a series of moves at the deadline.
In his final game as an active member of the team, Malone let Juancho loose. He played just over 28 minutes, scoring 7 points, grabbing 11 boards, and blocking 2 shots in the win over Portland. We didn’t get a shimmy, but Juancho got his farewell:
“That was the best way to say goodbye,” he later told the media.
7. Nuggets take it to Giannis and company
On Friday, January 31, 2020, the Nuggets touched down in Milwaukee well into the morning. They had just taken care of Utah in Pepsi Center the night before and were getting ready to complete their third back-to-back set of the month. Denver was banged up and exhausted when they entered what is among the most challenging places to win in the league, but they took it to Giannis and company.
Will Barton III led the way with 24 points, Malik Beasley added 16, and Nikola Jokić was one assist shy of a triple-double as the Nuggets handed the Bucks just their seventh loss of the season and their third loss at home. It was among the more improbable wins of the season.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yq1QtaK5Ruk
6. Jokić goes off, gets clutch in Dallas
This game was particularly memorable for those of us who attended the DNVR Nuggets watch party that night. Denver tripped and stumbled more than once on national TV this season, but in a much-hyped matchup against Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks, ‘Big Honey’ gave the people what they tuned in to see.
He went for 33 points, 7 assists, and 6 rebounds in the road victory, his final two points coming in the last eight seconds, and proving to be the difference as Denver escaped with a win. This was Denver’s second matchup with Dallas of the season, and they avenged a 109-106 loss from late October.
5. Michael Porter Jr. catches fire in Indiana
When you follow one team as closely as this community does, there’s a neat little dynamic that arises. We catch the moments that don’t quite brim over into mainstream conversation or evoke discussion on the big sports talk radio stations. We’re there for these unexpected little bursts of joy, the small payoffs for our steadfast commitment.
When those moments are over, we look around in search of someone who caught them too, someone who immediately relates to the flood of emotions and serotonin that accompanies a recounting of the events. I knew we were witnessing one of those moments when Michael Porter Jr. set his career-high in Indiana on the second night of January.
I could barely contain myself as he poured in 25 points in less than 24 minutes, hit 11 of his 12 shots, and 2 of his 3 attempts from deep. Indiana had no answer as the 6’10” uber-talented scorer found a rhythm, dipped into his bag, then rolled his eyes into the back of his head as he reached a plane few scorers have access to.
It was at this stop most boarded the hype-train. If you saw that game, then you know what MPJ can do.
4. The offensive foul heard around the world
Jamal Murray isn’t the most explosive athlete in the NBA, but he’s a little underrated when it comes to bounce-ability. He’ll bust out a vicious dunk now and then but is more likely to dip into his flashy layup package when in amongst the trees. We don’t typically see him banish taller opponents to the shadow realm. I guess DJ Wilson read the same scouting report.
The Bucks made a trip to Denver back in March, and the Nuggets held a slim lead as time wound down in the third quarter. With about 7 seconds left on the shot clock, Murray made his move. He crossed Pat Connaughton and drove hard to the rim — Wilson slid into the empty lane and jumped with him. Bad choice.
What followed is among the nastiest in-game dunks and worst calls from an official that I’ve seen with my own two eyes. Murray blasted Wilson into another dimension, and the whistle was barely audible over the raucous crowd as the trailing official signaled for an offensive foul. The dunk didn’t count, they told us. But I simply reject that reality.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJwRlDFQNq8
3. Jokić hits game-winner over Karl-Anthony Towns
Remember the days of the Towns – Jokić debates? Some still believe it’s a debate worth rehashing, but it’s no longer one a Nuggets fan must humor. Jokić cemented his status as the best center in the league with a First Team All-NBA selection, 14 phenomenal playoff games, and a 2019-20 campaign full of triumphs over his rivals at the position.
On November 10, 2019, Denver was in Minnesota for the two team’s first matchup of the season. It wasn’t a great night for Jokić, who scored just 20 points in the four regulation periods plus overtime, and shot under 40% from the field, but he stepped up when it mattered most. With less than ten seconds left in the game, Barton rejected a screen from Jokić before stopping, turning, and feeding him the ball on left-wing. He took a couple of dribbles and backed into Towns before fading away and draining the winning shot with 2.4 left on the clock. Watch how sad KAT gets. It’s beautiful.
2. Denver Nuggets 100, Philadelphia 76ers 97
Just two nights before Jokić hit the game-winner in Minnesota, he was up to something similar back in Denver. Led by Second Team All-NBA Center, Joel Embiid, the Philadelphia 76ers marched into The Can and kicked The Nuggets’ ass for about three-quarters. Their lead peaked at 21 and stood at 19 as the fourth quarter began. That’s when the Nuggets woke up.
A 10-2 run to start the final quarter forced an early timeout from 76ers head coach Brett Brown. Sixteen fourth-quarter points from Jokić kept Denver in it as they chipped away at the lead.
Somehow, the Nuggets trailed by just one as they set up for the inbounds play with 13 seconds remaining. Murray received a screen from Jokić and took two defenders with him as he went downhill before finding his rolling center. Embiid slid in front of the driving Jokić, who adjusted and slipped it to Paul Millsap under the basket. Four 76ers swarmed Millsap, who somehow dribbled it out, and found an open Jokić, who drilled an awkward jumper with 1.2 seconds left. Comeback complete.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzEilNDSh-c
1. The Seven
It might be the least likely win in Denver Nuggets history, and it’s far and away my favorite moment from my short time covering the team. Five days after the Nuggets’ unlikely win in Milwaukee, they found themselves on the second half of yet another back-to-back.
The injury bug was making its rounds. Will Barton III, Paul Millsap, Jerami Grant, Michael Porter Jr., and Mason Plumlee were all inactive for their matchup with Utah. All told, Denver brought just seven available players, including three current or former two-way players, and rookie Vlatko Čančar.
A win required a herculean effort from Jokić, who didn’t have his full arsenal to play with, and drew the assignment of the best defender at his position, if not full-stop, in the NBA. But he gave Rudy Gobert the work.
In just under 40 minutes, Jokić dropped 30 points, 21 rebounds, and 10 assists on 58% from the field. Jamal Murray added 31 hard-earned points of his own, and Monte Morris was the only other player to break double-digits in scoring. Denver kept it close for four quarters, before turning to the big-man for one more miracle.
With just over a minute remaining, trailing by one, Morris fed an entry pass to Jokić in the post, who took possession with 3 seconds left on the shot clock. There wasn’t much time for anything but his signature move, so he busted out the ‘Sombor Shuffle,’ draining a high-arching fadeaway and giving Denver the last lead of the game.
Another center bites the dust.
The Nuggets lack a little killer instinct, but they have a world of fight in them, and never has their doggedness shone so brightly. It’s a memory worth clinging to as the team gets set to resume play without their full roster. As long as Jokić and Murray are around, there’s no point in counting them out. We won’t forget what happened in Utah that night.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_NI9lqhsh0
