**ESPN:** [recap](https://www.espn.com/nba/recap/_/gameId/401469210) – [boxscore](https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401469210) – [gamecast](https://www.espn.com/nba/game/_/gameId/401469210) | **NBA.com:** [boxscore](https://www.nba.com/game/0022201055) – [shotchart](https://www.nba.com/game/0022201055/game-charts)
||**Q1**|**Q2**|**Q3**|**Q4**|**Final**||
|:—|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|
**DEN**|**28**|**39**|**24**|**19**|**110**|[](/DEN)|
**NYK**|**36**|**26**|**29**|**25**|**116**|[](/NYK)|
**Team**|**FG**|**3PT**|**FT**|**OR**|**Reb**|**Ast**|**TO**|**Stl**|**Blk**|**PF**|**Pts**|
|:—|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|
[](/DEN)**DEN**|**43-84 (51.2)**|**12-33 (36.4)**|**12-15 (80.0)**|**6**|**33**|**30**|**13**|**3**|**2**|**21**|**110**|
[](/NYK)**NYK**|**41-83 (49.4)**|**9-32 (28.1)**|**25-28 (89.3)**|**15**|**43**|**23**|**12**|**9**|**4**|**16**|**116**|
**[](/DEN)DEN**|**Min**|**FG**|**3PT**|**FT**|**OR**|**Reb**|**Ast**|**TO**|**Stl**|**Blk**|**PF**|**Pts**|**+/-**|
|:—|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|
A. Gordon^^SF|31:13|6-12 (50.0)|0-2 (0.0)|2-3 (66.7)|1|5|7|1|1|0|3|14|+2|
M. Porter Jr.^^PF|30:12|4-10 (40.0)|3-7 (42.9)|0-0 (0.0)|1|5|0|0|0|0|1|11|+7|
N. Jokic^^C|36:51|11-18 (61.1)|1-5 (20.0)|1-1 (100.0)|2|10|8|6|0|1|2|24|+2|
K. Caldwell-Pope^^SG|37:15|2-7 (28.6)|0-5 (0.0)|0-0 (0.0)|0|1|1|1|0|0|2|4|+3|
J. Murray^^PG|34:45|9-14 (64.3)|5-7 (71.4)|2-3 (66.7)|0|4|6|2|1|0|4|25|-10|
B. Brown|27:55|3-6 (50.0)|0-1 (0.0)|5-6 (83.3)|1|4|6|2|0|0|3|11|-5|
C. Braun|13:53|2-7 (28.6)|1-4 (25.0)|0-0 (0.0)|0|3|0|1|1|1|3|5|-13|
J. Green|18:59|4-5 (80.0)|2-2 (100.0)|2-2 (100.0)|0|0|1|0|0|0|2|12|-8|
T. Bryant|8:57|2-5 (40.0)|0-0 (0.0)|0-0 (0.0)|1|1|1|0|0|0|1|4|-8|
**Totals**||**43-84 (51.2)**|**12-33 (36.4)**|**12-15 (80.0)**|**6**|**33**|**30**|**13**|**3**|**2**|**21**|**110**||
**DNP:** ***Vlatko Cancar***, ***Reggie Jackson***, ***DeAndre Jordan***, ***Zeke Nnaji***, ***Ish Smith***, ***Peyton Watson***
**Inactive:** ***Collin Gillespie***, ***Jack White***
**[](/NYK)NYK**|**Min**|**FG**|**3PT**|**FT**|**OR**|**Reb**|**Ast**|**TO**|**Stl**|**Blk**|**PF**|**Pts**|**+/-**|
|:—|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|—:|
R. Barrett^^SF|34:27|8-13 (61.5)|0-3 (0.0)|5-6 (83.3)|1|4|2|0|0|0|2|21|+13|
J. Randle^^PF|36:18|6-15 (40.0)|1-6 (16.7)|7-7 (100.0)|0|7|4|3|1|0|2|20|+5|
M. Robinson^^C|26:27|3-4 (75.0)|0-0 (0.0)|2-2 (100.0)|7|9|3|1|1|1|2|8|+11|
J. Brunson^^SG|31:49|9-20 (45.0)|2-5 (40.0)|4-4 (100.0)|0|2|5|1|0|0|2|24|-5|
Q. Grimes^^PG|20:05|3-7 (42.9)|3-5 (60.0)|0-0 (0.0)|0|1|1|1|1|1|0|9|+15|
I. Quickley|25:40|3-9 (33.3)|1-7 (14.3)|3-5 (60.0)|1|3|2|3|1|0|0|10|0|
I. Hartenstein|21:33|3-5 (60.0)|0-0 (0.0)|0-0 (0.0)|3|9|1|1|2|1|2|6|-5|
J. Hart|31:59|4-5 (80.0)|1-2 (50.0)|4-4 (100.0)|3|8|5|0|3|0|4|13|-5|
O. Toppin|11:41|2-5 (40.0)|1-4 (25.0)|0-0 (0.0)|0|0|0|2|0|1|2|5|+1|
**Totals**||**41-83 (49.4)**|**9-32 (28.1)**|**25-28 (89.3)**|**15**|**43**|**23**|**12**|**9**|**4**|**16**|**116**||
**DNP:** ***Evan Fournier***, ***DaQuan Jeffries***, ***Miles McBride***, ***Derrick Rose***, ***Jericho Sims***
**Inactive:** ***Trevor Keels***, ***Duane Washington Jr.***
||**PITP**|**2^^nd PTS**|**FB PTS**|**BIG LD**|**BEN PTS**|**TOT TOV**|**TOV PTS**||
|:—|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|
**DEN**|48|12|11|13|32|13|15|[](/DEN)|
**NYK**|56|20|11|13|34|12|17|[](/NYK)|
**Lead Changes: 8** | **Times Tied: 4** | **Gametime: 2:09** | **Attendance: 19812**
*Officials: Michael Smith, David Guthrie, Marat Kogut*
by BigHoneyBot
38 Comments
I’d like to be happy about the Nuggets for at least a few days please.
Fire Maloners mad he refuses to shoot the wide open 3s for his players.
It’s frustrating when people complain about refs and the players let the refs or the other teams physicality get in their heads. Nuggets will NEVER get a favorable whistle, especially in the playoffs. Teams will be allowed to played super physically. And this team never seems ready or prepared for that.
Joker has been totally out of it lately. He’s the 2xMVP – supermaxed superstar. He is supposed to carry majority of the load. And he’s not. Poor decision making leading to turnovers, passing out of open shots, bad defense.
I think it’s underrated how important it is for the team to feel comfortable and confident in their superstar – he’s supposed to be the steadying force. Even if things are all going wrong, they can depend on him. Sixers know Embiid will carry them offensively, bucks know Giannis will.. the pressure on role players to carry the offense because Jokic wants to pass was never going to be sustainable. They are role players for a reason. And it’s not fair to KCP or Bruce brown or whoever else to blame losses on them for lack of offensive production.
Jokic giving his haters all the ammo they need recently. MVP debate seems to have shook him sadly
why is center expected to score clutch threes
please get porter more shots + time on the court, dg why he’s ignored in the 4th
You can talk about the previous 4 losses but this one is fine in my opinion. Could the team have played better to close out the game? Sure but at least they didn’t look like they don’t give a bleep out there. Now tomorrow’s game I expect the bad Nuggets to show up. I am not worried about the 1st seed. The Kings and Grizz aren’t good enough to make up ground even if we lose more games. As far as MVP, recency bias is real and we have the Bucks and Sixers playing at home soon. If Jokic outplays both Giannis and Embiid in those games then he will win it
Malone ain’t it brothers.
Ppl going at jokers defense today not saying it was good (would say it was mostly inconsistent some flashes but barrett got him a few times and Hartenstein inexplicably drove by him as well also had some uncharacteristic instances where he got outrebounded when he’s usually so dominant on the boards), but Knicks made it clear to everyone, esp in the second half, that Mal was gonna get targeted by their guards and wings essentially every time down and they still got whatever they wanted with few exceptions
It sucks now teams are actively hunting joker AnD Murray…Murray got absolutely cooked today
Defensively, this was one of the worst performances this year. 3 steals in total and you’d expect KCP and BB to be elite defensive guards, they’re not playing good defense for a while now and it shows.
Defensive rebounding was atrocious and while it frequently does come down to positioning, there’s an effort part to it and Jok got outhustled a lot. Is it fatigue or whatever I don’t know but it is what it is.
Not sure why MPJ wasn’t included in taking more shots, especially late shots, why put him in a minute later after Jokic back on the court.
Is that Reddit darling and future Sports Clips spokesman Christian Braun at -13?
They look fine in spurts, but god damn if this team isn’t frustrating to watch right now. The worst part might be looking at the schedule and realizing it’s not going to get any easier. That Wizards game this week and the Rockets, who are sandwiched in a 4 games in 6 day stretch back and forth road and home.
With how bad the bench has been lately, Zeke might have a shot to get his rotation spot back hopefully
That Quickley is like a Bones doppelganger.
Will we ever win again?
Thank god it’s my wife’s birthday and I didn’t get to watch this game
This season is over. I’m tired of constantly defending Jokic. If this team actually wants to compete for a championship, they will need to move on from Malone and trade Murray
why haven’t we played cancar? before he got a wrist sprain he was plqying legit minutes and we were still winning. now we play jeff solely. I refuse to believe he forgot how to play basketball in the short time he was hurt.
also what happened to kcp? he was shooting damn near 60% not too long ago, and other than the pistons game he’s been missing wide open corner 3s
Dear god. I thought my Denver over 51.5 was a lock 2 weeks ago. Now Im worried. I think tomorrow is a must.
Last thing I’ll say because I’m hungry as shit: I’m not worried or Jokic’s scoring aggression or whatever, but his decision making while facilitating has been really strange lately. Also not really worried about that, but it’s just something I’ve noticed.
There was a specific play on the 3rd? quarter where Jokic had it at the top with MPJ/KCP on the wing. KCP kinda set a little flare screen and cut to the basket – taking both guys with him. MPJ was wide open on the wing for a three, but Jokic tried to force it to KCP and I think it ended up as a kicked ball. MPJ let him know about it, but that just seems like a play that Jokic was consistently making earlier in the season but recently has been a little off.
Again, not really worried but is just something I’ve been keeping an eye on (especially since he had a few really dumb turnovers, too).
I just hope they can pass last season’s record now
I notice teams don’t target MPJ anymore but Murray instead. At the start of the season it was the opposite
Very bad 4th quarter once again. Jokic looks tired and fatigued lately. Knicks were way sharper. Nothing points that we are going to be a threat in the playoffs. This is hard.
Out offense just disappeared out of nowhere.
🙁
This loss could be the result of traveling to the east and having to play 6 or 7 hours earlier than they are used to. You have to adjust to that. If that’s the case, tomorrow’s game should be better than this one, or at least that is what I hope so…
Why it was always a Jokic desperate three when Nugget needed a 3p to save their life lol
Sixers officially have a better record than the nuggets and y’all are saying we shouldn’t be concerned??
Malone grew up a Knicks fan. No wonder he kept the ball out of MPJs hands today
Our bench only 32 points uhhh… Might i remind you Bones was by far our best bench scorer outscoring likes of Brown and KCP (despite them getting way more mins )
They out rebounded us by 19. We sent them to the line 28 times. At halftime we lead points in the paint by 6 and ended up losing that battle by 8. Once again, this all indicates a lack of effort, mostly on defence, and (this time) mostly in the second half. This loss is on everyone.
That being said, Joker got killed on glass, KCP’s 3 ball was atrocious, and TB looked like he was scared to be out there. There’s something to be said for saving your energy until the playoffs, but this lack of effort is becoming habitual, and it has the potential to come back and bite us.
Our bench was best when bones was on the bench and ish was the PG. He had the only connection with TB and it worked. TB not playing well, but he’s also playing like DJ. Since Reggie came, it’s been out of whack. Malone back staggering Mal, CB just now started playing its insane. Staggering Mal is not working just stop it
Guys need some games off. It’s not hard to sit each starter a couple of games at-least cause our bench is forcing them to pick up the slack. KCP 3pt shot has fallen as the season went out. We need him ready to go
https://preview.redd.it/0xmywn4znloa1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=e12be3c48c1ce799d160f67030e3e9b7500ded94
Fucking rebound god damnit
This is a troubling way to finish the season
Can someone explain exactly what has happened these past two weeks? We were such a good team and now the wheels have just fell off. Last good win was the Grizzlies game.
I’ve never been a fire makoner, he has gotten us pretty far considering where this franchise was when he took the helm, and I believe he still has some slack before I’m out on him, but his treatment of mpj is really making me reconsider. The dude has busted his ass, fought through setback after setback, and is easily the best shooter in our team. Why the fuck does he get benche, never get plays run for him, and is relegated to the corner in the 4th. I’ve fucking had it with this. Mpj is a weapon that we NEED to be utilizing. I believe he is more relented than Jamal, just simply needs more experience. It’s unbelievable to me
For everyone in here blaming Jokic, KCP or any starter guess what the starters always win there minutes and they we’re even a +4 today.
The bench is just catching up to us now if the starters don’t go up by 15 each time they’re on the court the margin of error becomes very slim. I mean look at the Nets game. Starters: MPJ +6, AG +13, Jokic +14, KCP +15, Jamal -13 Bench: Bruce -6, Jeff -15, Reggie -20, Vlatko -12, Braun +9. Whatever lead the starters create instantly dissipates when the bench comes in.
In terms of Net Rating the Nuggets have the second worst bench in the league and this is frankly unacceptable. If there is any valid criticism on Malone it’s that he has done absolutely nothing this whole season to improve the bench and he’s been riding the starters coattails.
Also, this shows how narratives run the league. Earlier in the season the Warriors had the same problem and thats all you would hear. The Warriors starters would get a pass because all you would hear is how bad the bench was. Its Wisemans fault, Poole’s fault, JaMychal Green’s fault, the front offices fault. Here people just accepted it and instead blame the starters when its super impressive that they managed to get the 1st seed with the 2nd WORSE bench in the league. I mean if they even had an average bench they’d easily have 65+ Wins this season.
For reference these are the Net rating rankings of the other top teams bench units. Kings 9th, Grizzlies 18th, Bucks 10th, Celtics 6th, 76ers 7th. The Nuggets are 29th. You could be a bad bench but being 2nd last is just ridiculous.