THE Denver Nuggets were on a roll as they took down the New Orleans Pelicans.
The Nuggets were ablaze as they came into the game against the Pelicans in the latter’s homecourt Smoothie King Center in New Orleans and finished with the score of 105-99.
Nuggets center Nikola Jokic was on fire; posting a triple-double of 20 points, 10 assists, and 13 rebounds. Guards Malik Beasley and Monte Morris got 22 points and 20 points, respectively, to add to the win. This resulted into the Nuggets winning their fourth game in a row.
Meanwhile, the Pelicans relied on their guard Justin Holiday’s 22 points, 6 boards, and 6 dishes performance. This was added with rookie bigman Kenrich William’s 21 points and center Jahlil Okafor’s 14 points and 8 rebounds. In this game, most of the starting players like Anthony Davis, Nikola Mirotic, E’Twaun Moore, and Elfrid Payton were unable to play due to injuries, thus Justin Holiday carried the team on his back.
The Nuggets led most of the game due to the Pelican’s top 5 leading scorers out of the way. They led with the score of 29-26 at the end of the first. In the second quarter, the score was tied five times before the Pelicans managed to take the lead with the score of 56-53. In the third quarter, the Nuggets started a 10 point run to counter the Pelican’s lead. The game remained tight in the remaining minutes of the quarter.
Pelican’s forward Solomon Hill knocked down two consecutive three-pointer during their possession, cutting the score deficit into 71-66. However, Nuggets guard Gary Harris answered with back-to-back three pointers to extend their lead to 86-75 at the end of the third.
Despite of this, the Pelicans stormed the gates at the fourth quarter with an 11-2 run to cut the lead to 88-86. Yet Nuggets guard Malik Beasley extinguished the Pelican’s blazing run, scoring 5 points to extend the lead to 100-93. Once again, the Pelicans answered with Holiday shooting back-to-back three pointers, cutting the Nuggets lead to 1 point with the score of 100-99 and with 1:33 minutes left in the game.
The Pelicans tried to take the lead but Jokic decided to take over, passing his defender and scoring consecutive baskets to extend the score to 104-99 with 42 seconds left. The Pelicans managed to knock a free throw from the stripe and got the win. (Jayvee Gulfan, USC intern)