Thrilling News: Nikola Jokic adds to his Triple-Double record as the Nuggets’ ‘D’ smashes the Nets, Surpassing Legends

 

Early in Thursday night’s game, Nuggets coach Michael Malone stalked the sideline, waving his arms like the Scarecrow in the “Wizard of Oz,” imploring his team to shut down the Nets’ 3-point machine. “We’ll have our hands full tonight,” Malone said before the game. “One of the areas where we have been struggling is with our 3-point defense. They are a prolific 3-point shooting team, so our 3-point defense, our multiple-effort mentality, and our fly-around mentality are going to be tested.

” Not really. The Nuggets, led by history-maker Nikola Jokic, answered Malone’s challenge and ran away with a 124-101 victory. Jokic clinched yet another triple-double in the third quarter to become the first player in NBA history to have 10 or more triple-doubles in seven consecutive seasons, surpassing Oscar Robertson, who had six from 1960-61 through 1965-66. Jokic, who played just 30 minutes, finished the night with 26 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists for his 10th triple-double in 26 games.

Brooklyn, which lives and dies by making threes, entered the game shooting 38.9% on 3-pointers (third-best in the league), and averaging 14.8 made threes per game (fourth). But Brooklyn shot just 8 for 30 from long distance (26.7%). At the end of the third quarter, they were just 5 of 21. For all of their scrappy defense and another sublime performance by Jokic, the biggest crowd eruption of the night came in the fourth quarter when Christian Braun took the ball coast-to-coast and slammed the ball over Armoni Brooks. Players on the Nuggets’ bench went nuts.

Both offenses became discombobulated in the second quarter until the Nuggets shifted their running game into a higher gear. At the 4-minute mark, Jokic snared a rebound and fired an outlet pass to Michael Porter Jr., who fed Aaron Gordan for a jam and a 43-32 Denver lead.

Denver’s defense limited the Nets to 17 points in the quarter on 8 of 24 shooting, including an 0-for-6 performance from beyond the arc. That led directly to a Nuggets’ 52-39 halftime lead. Denver received another strong performance from Peyton Watson off the bench. He scored 18 points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished out five assists. Denver improved to 17-9 overall and 9-1 at home, erasing the memory of a 114-106 home loss to Houston on Dec. 8 at Ball Arena.