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Tag: Denver Nuggets

  • Podziemski’s late scoring leads Warriors to a 128-117 win over the Nuggets

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    Brandin Podziemski scored 12 of his 18 points in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter and the Golden State Warriors beat the Denver Nuggets 128-117 on Sunday.

    Podziemski shot 7 of 16 and added 15 rebounds and nine assists. Al Hoford hit six 3-pointers and finished with 22 points and seven assists as the Warriors ended a two-game losing streak despite being without Stephen Curry (knee), Kristaps Porzingis (sick) and Jimmy Butler (torn right ACL). Draymond Green (back) was also a late scratch.

    Moses Moody had 23 points and seven rebounds for the Warriors. DeAnthony Melton added 20 points.

    Nikola Jokic had 25 points, 20 rebounds and 12 assists for Denver. It’s Jokic’s fifth triple-double in seven games, 19th of the season and the 183rd of his career.

    Jamal Murray scored 21 points for the Nuggets, who had won three of five. Christian Braun scored 18 and Bruce Brown added 12.

    Coming off a 54-point win over Portland on Friday, Denver never led in the first half. The Nuggets made a run in the second half before Golden State closed the game on a 19-8 run.

    Podziemski led the Warriors with a pair of 3s and a put-back during the run. Horford added his sixth 3-pointer and had the Chase Center crowd rocking.

    Horford got the Warriors going early with a pair of 3-pointers and 11 points in the first quarter.

    Golden State extended its lead to 76-67 in the second despite Jokic being one assist shy of his triple-double before halftime.

    Up next

    Nuggets: Host the Boston Celtics on Wednesday.

    Warriors: At the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday.

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  • Nuggets to sign former CU Buffs star KJ Simpson to 2-way contract

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    The Nuggets are planning to sign former CU Buffs star KJ Simpson to a two-way contract, filling the spot they opened up by converting Spencer Jones to a standard NBA deal Wednesday, league sources told The Denver Post.

    Simpson, 23, was waived by Charlotte after the trade deadline this month. Drafted 42nd overall by the Hornets in 2024, he played in 50 games over the last two seasons and started 17 of them, averaging 7.3 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.9 assists.

    The 6-foot-2 guard represents additional ball-handling depth for the Nuggets as they prepare for the last third of the regular season. He won’t be eligible to play in the NBA playoffs on a two-way contract. Denver now has three guards occupying its two-way spots, with Simpson joining rookies Curtis Jones and Tamar Bates.

    Simpson played 98 games during a three-year college career at Colorado. He earned First Team All-Pac-12 honors as a junior and stamped his place in program history during the 2024 NCAA Tournament, when he buried a game-winning shot against Florida to send CU to the second round.

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    Bennett Durando

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  • Keeler: Nuggets legend Doug Moe was face of Denver sports before John Elway, its Joker before Nikola Jokic

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    We just lost the greatest stiff of all. Doug Moe officially left us Tuesday for That Big Coffee Shop In The Sky, holding Big Jane in one hand and Saint Peter with the other.

    “I’d kept in touch with Jane, and she called last week,” former Nuggets assistant “Big” Bill Fricke told me Tuesday, not long after Moe, the Nuggets’ idiosyncratic coach from 1980-90, passed away at the age of 87.

    “And when I talked to (Moe’s wife), she said, ‘We’re both at peace. Doug’s at peace with it. He’s ready to go. And I’m at peace with it.’ So it was good to hear that.”

    Ficke was Moe’s right-hand man with the Nuggets from 1982-84, the Abbott to his Costello, at the start of one of the most successful — and absolutely bonkers — periods of the team’s history.

    Under Moe, the Nuggets made the playoffs nine straight times, reached the Western Conference semis on four occasions and danced it all the way to the conference finals in 1985. The Nuggets wound up losing Alex English to a thumb injury in Game 4 of those finals, and the Lakers took the series in five. Denver wouldn’t reach the Western finals again until 2009.

    “I thought he was one of the best coaches in the league,” Ficke continued. “A lot of those college coaches wouldn’t have told you that. They thought all he did was move the ball around and that was it.”

    At the surface, everything about Doug Moe — his teams, his manner, his dress sense — seemed to embody complete madness. Yet there was a method. There was always more going on underneath the hood, kicking the way a baby duck’s legs kick through a summer pond.

    Although they were both New Yorkers, Ficke reminded me, he didn’t know Moe well until he’d moved to Denver more than four decades ago. In those days, Ficke lived west of I-25. Moe lived east of I-25. Doug’s place wasn’t wired for cable.

    So this one afternoon, Bill’s phone rang.

    “Hey, Ficke, you got cable?” Moe asked.

    “Yeah,” Bill replied.

    “You think it would be all right if I came over to watch a game tonight?”

    “No problem.”

    “Can I bring Jane?”

    “Sure, my wife knows Jane.”

    And over they came. About a week later, Moe called him again. Same request.

    So this goes on a couple more times, well into the spring. One day, Bill thinks it was June of ’82, Moe called again.

    “Hey Ficke,” Moe said. “How would you like to be my assistant?”

    “Oh, (expletive),” Bill replied. “Don’t ask me twice.”

    “He wanted somebody that he knew,” Ficke explained, “who wasn’t going to knife him in the back, that he could rely on. So it was great.”

    So were they. Moe was ahead of his time. He’d followed his friend Brown to Denver, the frumpy ying to Brown’s structured yang, as a Nuggets assistant during the dying embers of the ABA. When Moe took over the Nuggets for Donnie Walsh as head coach in ’80, he weaponized altitude, preaching a high-tempo offense with constant motion and no set plays.

    Moe and Ficke usually rode together to games. On one of the days they didn’t, Doug had called the Nuggets locker room and asked for Big Bill.

    “Ficke, I need you to catch tonight,” Moe said. “Because I’m sick.”

    “OK,” Bill said.

    “And Ficke, remember this: After two minutes, nobody’s listening. Don’t go into the (huddle), don’t go into the locker room and start talking.”

    He knew his players. He knew his business. Moe was the NBA’s Coach of the Year in 1988. Brown helped transition the Nuggets into the NBA. But it was Moe, and his high-tempo attack, that put the franchise on the national map.

    “Hey, Doug, don’t you think we should put a couple plays in for Alex or somebody?” Ficke asked him once.

    Moe pondered this for half a second.

    “Ficke, if you put in one play,” the coach replied, “they’re not going to believe in our running game.”

    On good nights, they ran teams ragged. Players were told not to hold the ball for more than two seconds. English and Kiki Vandeweghe ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in NBA scoring in 1982-83.

    Moe’s Nuggets ran and dared the rest of the NBA to catch up. Those who saw them would fall in love with an end-to-end blur of rainbow jerseys, games in which no lead was ever safe. And where no parent could sit their kids within 15 feet of the Nuggets’ bench without hearing a torrent of Moe obscenities.

    “Everybody has that image of him yelling at the players on the court,” Ficke recalled. “They didn’t realize that he was telling the players what was (about to happen) three steps ahead of them.”

    When his teams didn’t entertain, Moe became the show, this cursing, grumbling, rumpled 6-foot-5 firebrand who dressed like a ’70s private detective, a disheveled anti-hero who detested suits and ties. He was Joe Don Baker cast as a basketball player, Columbo with a jump shot.

    Moe once got fined for throwing water at an official. When he was fired in 1990, he brought champagne to a news conference to celebrate his axing because he was now being paid to do nothing.

    He was a savant. He did five-digit multiplication in his head. Moe was a genius when it came to basketball and personalities. He was an absolute artist with profanities, as blunt as the business end of a sledgehammer.

    “The thing was, everything was over with the next game, the next day,” Ficke recalled. “And the players knew that. And that’s why they respected him.”

    While Moe painted in four-letter words, he became more renowned for one five-letter sobriquet: stiff. It was his pet phrase for try-hard guys. His pet phrase for athletically-challenged guys. It became his pet phrase for almost everybody.

    Bill Hanzlik? Stiff. Danny Schayes? Stiff.

    “I gave up trying to explain Doug Moe long ago,” Nuggets icon Dan Issel told the Los Angeles Times in 1985. “The thing I like about Doug is, he doesn’t take it personally. If you mess up and he hollers and screams, you had it coming. When the game’s over, it’s forgotten. You can go have dinner with him.”

    He laughed easily. He forgave easily. Moe used to joke that he was two guys: Before and after the tilt, a sheer delight. In between, a snarling, barking wolf from pregame until the final horn.

    “The most loyal person you’d ever meet,” Ficke said. “They should put his picture next to the word ‘loyal’ in the dictionary. If you’re his friend, you’re his friend for life.”

    Doug wouldn’t let his body get him down, although Lord knows his body tried. As a Nuggets assistant for George Karl in 2004, Moe suffered a heart attack and required bypass surgery. The next year, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, which led to another procedure in September 2005.

    Doug and Big Jane eventually retired down in San Antonio, close to their boys. Ficke visited the Moes down in Texas this past November. He remembers that they hung out for six hours or so. He remembers how they told war stories ’til it hurt. He also remembers a hospice nurse was coming over daily to check on the former Nuggets coach.

    “He was weak, don’t get me wrong,” Ficke said. “But he was upbeat.”

    He was one of one, real as a hangover. Moe became the face of Denver sports before John Elway, the Nuggets’ Joker before Nikola Jokic. And the NBA still hasn’t quite caught up with him.

    Luckily, Saint Peter’s coffee shop never closes, because Moe has more stories to tell, loosening a tie he hates, having tossed aside a jacket that never quite fit. The angels are in for an earful.

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    Sean Keeler

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  • Doug Moe, the rumpled, irreverent coach of the high-scoring Denver Nuggets, dies at 87

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    By Eddie Pells, Associated Press

    DENVER (AP) — Doug Moe, an ABA original who gained fame over a rumpled, irreverent and sometimes R-rated decade as coach of the Denver Nuggets in the 1980s, died Tuesday. He was 87.

    Moe’s son, David, notified several of the coach’s friends that his father had died after a long bout with cancer, Ron Zappolo, a longtime Denver TV personality and good friend of Moe’s, told The Associated Press.

    The Nuggets, in a social media post, called Moe “a one-of-a-kind leader and person who spearheaded one of the most successful and exciting decades in Nuggets history.”

    Moe went 628-529 over 15 seasons as a head coach, including stints with the San Antonio Spurs and Philadelphia 76ers. He never won a title — his most memorable run coming in 1985 when his best Denver team fell to the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference finals. He was the NBA Coach of the Year in 1988.

    More than for wins and losses, Moe will be remembered for his motion offense and for the equally entertaining shows he put on while prowling the bench during his coaching days.

    His Denver teams led the league in scoring over five straight seasons in the early ‘80s, and he rarely ran a set play.

    He called the people he liked the most “stiffs,” (or worse) and used more colorful language to drive points home to some of his favorite foils — Kiki VanDeWeghe, Danny Schayes and Bill Hanzlik stood out.

    The coach stalked the sidelines in one of his well-worn sports coats, usually without a tie (he had a small stash of “emergency suits” in his closet for bigger events), his hair a mess and his overtaxed voice barely at a croak by the end of most games.

    The Nuggets bench, along with the 10 rows behind it, was no place for children, but within hours, Moe would be at the bar or coffee shop hanging with many of those same players he’d excoriated, often himself wondering where that foul-mouthed man on the sideline had come from.

    “Sometimes I think I have a Jekyll-and-Hyde personality. I clown around a lot before and after a game, but once a game starts, my emotions just take over,” Moe said in a 1983 interview with The New York Times.

    Years before John Elway arrived, Moe was Denver’s biggest sports personality. Zappolo, the sportscaster, said there was a sweet teddy bear behind the game-day bluster.

    “I don’t know if there’s ever been a more important sports figure in Denver, not only because of how successful he was, but how colorful he was and how kind he was,” Zappolo said. “There are a lot of people walking around today who feel like they were Doug’s best friend.”

    A legend in Brooklyn and North Carolina before a pro career in the ABA

    Douglas Edwin Moe was born Sept. 21, 1938, in Brooklyn, New York. As a teen he became well-known in New York basketball circles, where he would sometimes head to gyms using fake names to play on teams he wouldn’t otherwise be eligible for.

    He paired with good friend Larry Brown at North Carolina, where as a 6-foot-5 small forward he twice earned All-America honors. But Moe’s college career was terminated early because of a point-shaving scandal for which he received $75 to fly to a meeting; he refused to throw games.

    After a few years in Europe, Moe again became a package deal with Brown, as they winded their way through the new and fledgling ABA. Moe was a three-time All-Star over a five-year career that ended early because of his perpetually ailing knees.

    His playing days done, he teamed again with Brown, working as his assistant with the Carolina Cougars, and then with the Nuggets toward the end of the franchise’s ABA days.

    Moe insisted he never wanted a head coaching job — didn’t want to work that hard — but Brown coaxed him into taking a job in San Antonio. With the help of George Gervin, Moe won the division twice and made one conference final in four seasons with the Spurs.

    Moe’s next stop was Denver, where he took over after another of his Carolina buddies, Donnie Walsh, got fired in 1980. The ensuing 10 seasons marked a golden era for the Nuggets, who played in rainbow uniforms and rewrote record books but never climbed out from the shadows of the Lakers and Celtics dynasties of the era.

    Moe coached the top-scoring duo in NBA history and in its highest-scoring game

    Alex English and VanDeWeghe finished 1-2 in scoring in the 1982-83 season, a feat no teammates have accomplished since. The Nuggets lost a 186-184 game to the Pistons in 1983 that remains the highest-scoring game in NBA history. Moe won 432 games with the Nuggets, and the franchise retired that number, with Moe’s name attached.

    It took more than 30 years after Moe retired and moved back to San Antonio for the Nuggets to break through and become NBA champions.

    Oddly enough, one of Moe’s most colorful coaching coups came at the expense of the Nuggets on the last day of the 1977-78 season when he was with the Spurs. In an early game, Denver, coached by Brown at the time, fed David Thompson on the way to a 73-point outburst against Detroit that briefly put him ahead of Gervin in a neck-and-neck battle for the scoring title.

    So, that night, Moe told the Spurs to get out of “Ice’s” way. Gervin scored 63 against the Jazz to win the title by .07.

    Moe’s coaching peak, however, came with the Nuggets, where his teams got considerably better when Fat Lever and Calvin Natt came via a trade in 1984. But both were injured during that 1985 conference final against the Lakers. The Nuggets dropped the last three games in a 4-1 series loss, and Moe never got closer.

    Though the focus of the Nuggets was offense, Moe spent ample time preaching defense — insisting it, not the team’s scoring ability, would make the difference between winning and losing.

    Once, incensed at the lack of effort during a blowout loss at Portland, he commanded his team to stop trying on defense and to let the Blazers make layups at will over the final minutes to set the franchise scoring record for a single game. That earned him a fine and suspension, only weeks after he was fined for throwing water on an official.

    For the most part, though, Moe made a career out of not taking himself too seriously — a wryly wrinkled counterbalance to the slicked-down Pat Riley and the Laker Showtime teams that dominated the NBA’s Western Conference over the decade.

    Moe even punctuated one of his lowest moments — his firing by the Nuggets in 1990 — by wearing a Hawaiian shirt and popping open champagne at the news conference while his wife, whom he called “Big Jane,” looked on. A day to celebrate, he insisted, because he would now be getting paid to do nothing.

    Moe finished his head coaching career with an unsuccessful stint in Philadelphia that lasted less than a season before returning to Denver in supporting roles, including a return to the bench as George Karl’s assistant.

    “Because I’m stupid, or something like that,” Moe said when asked to explain why he was coaching again.

    Far from it.

    And despite his insistence that he did little more than throw a ball out there, there was a well-honed, much-practiced method behind what looked like the madness of his always-in-overdrive passing game.

    “There will never be another sports figure like Doug Moe,” Zappolo said. “He really was one of a kind.”

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  • Key 76ers Games Defining Their Push Toward the NBA Finals – Philadelphia Sports Nation

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    THIS BLOG CONTAINS LINKS FROM WHICH WE MAY EARN A COMMISSION. Credit: Taylor Smith-Unsplash

    The Philadelphia 76ers are in the middle of a season that feels defining, not just in the standings but in how the team is perceived across the NBA. 

    The 76ers are entering the heart of the schedule, where the margin between contenders and pretenders narrows, and every nationally watched matchup becomes a measuring stick.

    For the Philadelphia 76ers, the push toward the NBA Finals will be shaped less by blowout wins against lesser opponents and more by high-leverage games against playoff-caliber teams. 

    These contests will test lineup flexibility, late-game execution, and mental toughness. They also reveal whether Philadelphia can consistently impose its style on teams that know them well.

    Several matchups on the calendar stand out as tone-setters, games that influence seeding, confidence, and league-wide respect.

    Each one offers a snapshot of who the 76ers are right now, and who they are becoming as the postseason approaches.

    Philadelphia 76ers vs. New York Knicks

    • Date: February 12
    • Venue: Xfinity Mobile Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

    The February 12 matchup against the New York Knicks will shine a spotlight on the Philadelphia 76ers’ ability to handle physical, playoff-style basketball. New York brings defensive pressure, rebounding strength, and a slow-it-down approach that forces discipline on both ends. 

    In the recent 2025/26 coverage, analysts consistently frame the Knicks as a stress test for teams with championship aspirations, and Philadelphia leans into that challenge.

    The 76ers emphasize half-court execution, patient ball movement, and attacking mismatches rather than rushing possessions. This game also matters psychologically, as the Knicks are a direct obstacle in the Eastern Conference. 

    A strong performance will reinforce the opinion that the Philadelphia 76ers can win games where spacing is tight, and points come at a premium. 

    For fans who closely follow momentum swings and matchups, it’s noteworthy that this type of contest often shapes how those immersing themselves in the sport bet on NBA games. These sorts of matchups reveal which contenders remain composed under pressure rather than relying on pace alone.

    Philadelphia 76ers vs. Indiana Pacers

    • Date: February 25
    • Venue: Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Indiana

    When the Philadelphia 76ers face the Indiana Pacers on February 25, the contrast in styles takes center stage. Indiana pushes tempo, prioritizes transition scoring, and thrives when games become chaotic. 

    The recent 2025/26 analysis points to this matchup as a test of control. Philadelphia focuses on limiting turnovers and dictating pace, knowing that defensive discipline often determines the outcome. This game will force the 76ers’ perimeter defenders to stay locked in while bigs recover quickly in space.

    Offensively, Philadelphia will look to exploit Indiana’s defensive lapses by creating high-quality shots rather than trading baskets. A win here signals that the Philadelphia 76ers can adapt without abandoning their identity. 

    It also matters in the standings, as games against fast-rising conference opponents influence tiebreakers and playoff positioning. More importantly, it’ll show whether Philadelphia can win games that feel uncomfortable, an essential trait for any team with Finals ambitions.

    Credit: Taylor Smith-Unsplash

    Philadelphia 76ers vs. Boston Celtics

    • Date: March 2
    • Venue: TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts

    The March 2 showdown with the Boston Celtics feels like a preview of May, and for the Philadelphia 76ers, no opponent carries more symbolic weight. 

    Boston represents the gold standard in the East, and 2025/26 NBA coverage frequently frames this rivalry as a referendum on Philadelphia’s readiness. Every possession matters, and adjustments happen quickly. The 76ers prioritize defensive communication, knowing Boston thrives on exploiting small mistakes.

    On offense, Philadelphia targets efficient shot creation rather than volume, understanding that empty possessions swing momentum fast in these games. This matchup also tests mental resilience, especially in late-game scenarios where execution outweighs talent. 

    A strong showing against Boston reinforces the idea that the Philadelphia 76ers belong in the same championship conversation. 

    Win or lose, how Philadelphia competes, its poise, adaptability, and response to runs, will shape league perception and influence how seriously opponents take them entering the postseason.

    Philadelphia 76ers vs. Memphis Grizzlies

    • Date: March 11
    • Venue: Xfinity Mobile Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

    The March 11 game against the Memphis Grizzlies offers the Philadelphia 76ers a different kind of challenge. Memphis brings athleticism, defensive aggression, and a relentless attack. 

    Recent season analysis emphasizes that Western Conference opponents like the Grizzlies test a team’s physical endurance and depth. For Philadelphia, this matchup is about sustaining intensity across four quarters.

    The 76ers focus on defensive rotations and rebounding to prevent second-chance points, while offensively, they look to punish overhelping with smart ball movement. This game also matters because it simulates the grind of Finals-style basketball, where physicality escalates, and whistles tighten. 

    A composed performance will show that the Philadelphia 76ers can handle teams that pressure the rim and challenge every possession. It’ll also reveal whether their system can hold up not just against familiar Eastern rivals, but against elite, high-energy opponents from the West.

    Philadelphia 76ers vs. Denver Nuggets

    • Date: March 18
    • Venue: Ball Arena, Denver, Colorado

    Facing the Denver Nuggets on March 18 represents one of the clearest measuring sticks for the Philadelphia 76ers. Denver’s championship pedigree and disciplined execution force opponents to play near-perfect basketball. 

    In 2025–2026 previews, this matchup is often framed as a Finals-level chess match. Philadelphia emphasizes defensive versatility, switching schemes to disrupt rhythm while staying connected on shooters.

    Offensively, the 76ers prioritize spacing and decision-making, knowing Denver punishes hesitation. This game will also highlight stamina and focus, as Denver thrives on wearing teams down with consistent pressure. 

    A competitive showing will signal that the Philadelphia 76ers can match elite teams possession for possession without unraveling. Beyond the result, how Philadelphia manages late-game situations, timeouts, matchups, and shot selection offers insight into their championship readiness. 

    Games like this define whether Finals aspirations feel realistic or remain theoretical.

    Collective Impact

    The road to the NBA Finals rarely hinges on a single moment, but for the Philadelphia 76ers, these key games collectively define their trajectory. Each matchup reveals something different: resilience against physical teams, control versus speed, composure under rivalry pressure, and adaptability against elite Western opponents.

    Together, they shape confidence, seeding, and belief inside the locker room. The Philadelphia 76ers are not chasing style points; they are building habits that translate into postseason success. How they perform in these spotlight games influences how the league views them and how they view themselves. 

    If Philadelphia continues to meet these challenges with discipline and clarity, the push toward the NBA Finals feels less like hope and more like expectation.

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  • How to Watch Nuggets vs Knicks: Live Stream NBA, TV Channel

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    The Denver Nuggets (33-18) travel to Madison Square Garden to face the New York Knicks (32-18) in this Wednesday night NBA matchup.

    How to Watch Denver Nuggets vs New York Knicks

    • When: Wednesday, February 4th, 2026
    • Time: 7:00 PM ET
    • TV Channel: Altitude Sports Overflow, MSG, ESPN
    • Live Stream: Fubo (try for free)

    Denver takes a rare two-game losing streak into New York, looking to avoid their first three-game losing streak of the season. They are on the second part of a back-to-back, having lost 124-121 to the Detroit Pistons a night prior. Jamal Murray led the team in scoring against Detroit with 32 points and eight assists, while Nikola Jokic scored 24 to go with 15 rebounds, four assists, two steals, and a block. The Nuggets got as close as two points with 2:05 remaining after a Murray 3-pointer, but couldn’t close the gap any further.

    The Knicks are as hot as any team in basketball right now, having won seven in a row, with their last game being a 132-101 laugher against the Washington Wizards. The Knicks will also be on the second part of a back-to-back, which made the easy win against the Wizards more valuable. Only Jalen Brunson (21 points) played more than 27 minutes, as Mikal Bridges led the team in scoring with 23 points.

    This is a great NBA matchup that you will not want to miss; make sure to tune in and catch all the action.

    Live stream Denver Nuggets vs New York Knicks on Fubo: Start your free trial now!

    You can live stream NBA games all season long with Fubo, which offers a free trial. They carry all the channels you need, never to miss the action, including nationally broadcast channels like ESPN, ABC, and NBA TV, as well as local team coverage.

    Regional restrictions may apply. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation.

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  • Nuggets sit out Spencer Jones, play without a power forward in loss to Pistons

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    DETROIT — Both teams playing in the Motor City on Tuesday were maneuvering their rosters as the trade deadline loomed — one of them more quietly than the other.

    The Pistons were hosting, just a few hours after they sent Jaden Ivey to Chicago in a three-team deal that brought back Kevin Huerter, ex-Nugget Dario Saric and a pick swap. The Nuggets had not completed any trades, but they did have a business decision to make. Spencer Jones embarked on their three-game road trip this week with one game of eligibility remaining on his two-way contract and a back-to-back against two of the East’s best awaiting Denver.

    With Christian Braun returning from an ankle injury and supplying David Adelman with another body to work with in Detroit, the Nuggets elected to rest Jones on Tuesday and delay his last game 24 hours until New York, sources said. Jones told The Denver Post last week that the Nuggets’ front office has told him he might have to sit out games even if he ends up joining the 15-man roster on a standard contract this month.

    Without him, the Nuggets clawed back from a 20-point deficit to get within two late in the fourth quarter, but the Pistons held on for a 124-121 win at Little Caesar’s Arena. A fortuitous shooter’s bounce for Tobias Harris with 1:46 left stretched Detroit’s lead to 115-110 as Denver struggled to land the comeback’s final punch. Moments later, Peyton Watson was a millisecond late to block a Cade Cunningham layup off the backboard, a play that would’ve given Denver a chance to tie while down three.

    “The challenge for us right now is with all the things that are happening — people coming back, the minute restrictions — we have to avoid paying attention to that, and we just have to play,” Adelman said. “And deal with it as we go. We’re going to have some clunky moments. The rotation is different. We tried different things tonight. Just trying to fit people into the minutes that can play.”

    “It’s a little bit different for us right now,” Nikola Jokic said, “but I think it’s part of the (league).”

    The healthy scratch of Jones was essentially a money-saving tactic for Nuggets ownership. Players on two-way deals can be active for up to 50 NBA games in a regular season. Jones may be on the verge of a promotion that would dispense with that limit if the Nuggets can balance their books with a trade by Thursday afternoon. But their primary goal, to get under the luxury tax, is evident in that they’ve gone through half of the season with an open roster spot. Nothing in a rulebook would’ve prevented them from converting Jones’ contract on Tuesday (or earlier) if they wanted him available for Detroit.

    Instead, they were operating without a power forward. Aaron Gordon is also sidelined as he recovers from a hamstring strain. Adelman rolled out Braun, Peyton Watson and Jalen Pickett in the starting unit alongside his two stars, foreshadowing a night of finagling. He tried everything from four-guard lineups to a jumbo package.

    “I am feeling it out, man. Like, I’m feeling it out every game,” Adelman said. “We walk through stuff in a hotel room, and I pre-suppose lineups and put them out there in their sandals. And then we go play. Then you have to react during the game. And that’s part of the NBA, so there’s no excuses there, either. It’s just, I was trying to find a group that had some rhythm. We found a couple, but the end of the first half just killed us.”

    The Pistons (37-12) swept the season series and got under Denver’s skin in the process. Their frontcourt played its usual chippy style, and Nuggets center Jonas Valanciunas caused a brief skirmish in the first quarter by putting Isaiah Stewart in a headlock under the basket. Newly minted Pistons All-Star Jalen Duren exchanged shoves with Valanciunas. Both received technical fouls. Valanciunas also picked up a flagrant for the play on Stewart.

    By halftime, both head coaches and Pistons guard Duncan Robinson had been handed technicals as well. Jamal Murray and Stewart jawed back and forth a couple of times. Cade Cunningham got into foul trouble in the third frame but also earned 11 free throws himself — a stat that agitated Adelman after the game in contrast to Jokic’s three. In search of a bigger power forward, the first-year head coach started playing Jokic at the four in a double-big lineup with Valanciunas to match Detroit’s size and physicality.

    Both centers started the fourth quarter after Denver had trimmed a 20-point deficit back to 13. Julian Strawther chipped in as the rally intensified, lending support on the glass and pushing the pace.

    “He was playing aggressive and trying to force the issue a little bit,” Murray. “It was good to see him just get a flow.”

    The Nuggets couldn’t buy a bucket early. They missed their first seven 3s while falling behind by double digits and shot 31.8% from the field in the first half. But they were able to linger despite a “weird energy” that Adelman wasn’t pleased with, until a disastrous two-minute stretch to end the half. Three consecutive turnovers — two by Jokic — fueled a 10-0 Pistons run that pushed the lead to 69-50. Detroit scored 26 fast break points on the night, a “ridiculous” number, Adelman said.

    “They’re handsy,” said Jokic, who was visibly frustrated by non-calls throughout the night. “They have some really good personnel. … I think the second half was much better for us.

    “We had, I’m gonna say, like a good half of basketball.”

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    Bennett Durando

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  • Nuggets’ David Adelman reacts to Minneapolis unrest, shooting of Alex Pretti: ‘Let’s not shoot each other’

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    David Adelman couldn’t make sense of what he was watching, but he could make out the neighborhood. Minneapolis was his first NBA home. He knew the city well. Just not in this ravaged state.

    “That’s a great community of people,” the first-year head coach of the Nuggets said. “I lived there for five years. And it was just so weird to see exactly where it was in the city, because I knew exactly where it was. And from the drone shot, it looked like a war zone. And that’s the country we live in.”

    Before the Nuggets hosted the Pistons on Tuesday night, Adelman took a moment to reflect on the unrest in Minneapolis and the death of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old nurse who was fatally shot by federal agents last Saturday.

    “Just as a human being, that’s really hard to watch,” he said. “I’d say beyond that, if you want to look at this in layers, how do you explain it to your kids? It’s tough. My kids are of an age where they know what’s going on. Watching that video and trying to explain it to them makes you realize that I don’t know what the hell is going on either.”

    The NBA postponed last Saturday’s game between the Timberwolves and Warriors “to prioritize the safety and security of the Minneapolis community” after the shooting of Pretti, according to a statement from the league.

    The game was made up on Sunday, with anti-ICE chants echoing through Target Center at the end of a pregame moment of silence for Pretti. The day before Pretti’s death, mass protests had been held in Minneapolis speaking out against the federal government’s deployment of ICE to enforce Donald Trump’s immigration policy. Renee Good was shot and killed on Jan. 7 in Minneapolis amid the crackdown.

    “For the second time in less than three weeks, we’ve lost another beloved member of our community in the most unimaginable way,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said through tears on Sunday. “As an organization, we are heartbroken for what we are having to witness and endure and watch. We just want to extend our thoughts, prayers and concern for Mr. Pretti, family, all the loved ones and everyone involved in such an unconscionable situation in a community that we really love, full of people who are, by nature, peaceful and prideful. We just stand in support of our great community here.”

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    Bennett Durando

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  • Nuggets’ Jonas Valanciunas returns from calf injury for 3-game road trip

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    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Nuggets center Jonas Valanciunas will return from a right calf strain and play in Denver’s game Thursday against the Wizards.

    Valanciunas, 33, missed 11 games. Starting center Nikola Jokic remains out with a left knee injury, but he traveled with the team for the start of its three-game road trip and went through a pregame shooting routine in Washington with a sleeve over his left leg.

    While the Nuggets wait for Jokic to return, Valanciunas will play limited minutes.

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    Bennett Durando

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  • Nuggets clobbered by young Hornets on back-to-back, David Adelman gets riled at substitution gamesmanship

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    The Nuggets’ short-handed winning streak is over, but the sting was dull.

    Down by 18 in the first quarter and 30 by the end of the third, Denver threw in the towel by keeping everyone’s minutes to a minimum in a 110-87 loss to the Hornets on Sunday at Ball Arena. The Nuggets (29-14) fell to 7-4 without the injured Nikola Jokic going into their first meeting of the season with the Lakers on Tuesday.

    “It’s flushed. There’s not much we could do about it,” Jamal Murray said. “Just felt like we were undersized. Undermanned. The whole game. … Take the rest and refocus for a really good L.A. team.”

    Charlotte’s rout snapped a four-game win streak for Denver, which was missing four of its usual starters after deciding to sit Aaron Gordon for the second night of a back-to-back. He was out alongside Jokic, Christian Braun, Cam Johnson and backup center Jonas Valanciunas. In their 10th full game without a traditional center and with no help on the way via the 10-day market, the Nuggets were outscored 62-32 in the paint.

    Murray scored 16 points in 25 minutes. Peyton Watson added 11 points and three blocks in 28 minutes. The burgeoning star forward was battered and bruised throughout the night, playing through brief injury scares to a knee and an elbow.

    Denver shot 40.5% from the field and 21% from the 3-point line against a young Charlotte squad that has ranked second in the NBA in offensive efficiency over the last 15 games. Still, the Hornets were on a back-to-back of their own after playing at Golden State.

    They were led by 23 points from Brandon Miller and 14 from Kon Knueppel, who’s challenging his former Duke teammate Cooper Flagg for Rookie of the Year honors.

    “Unbelievable. And (he) plays like he’s 28,” Nuggets coach David Adelman said. “Offensively, just takes his time. He’s just quick enough to get where he wants to get. And he’s super crafty in the paint. He looks like someone that, like I said, has been around for a long time. … Him and Flagg on the same team last year, to me, is just insane thinking about it.”

    The Nuggets felt their lack of size on both legs of the back-to-back. They lost the rebounding battle 61-36 to Charlotte, one day after getting crushed 27-4 by Washington on second-chance points.

    Adelman tried to navigate his lack of a center by matching minutes, but Hornets coach Charles Lee countered by disguising his substitutions. Back and forth the young coaches went, highlighted by the game’s only bit of drama at the start of the second quarter.

    Lee made a last-second swap between Ryan Kalkbrenner and Moussa Diabate that Adelman wanted to answer by putting DaRon Holmes II on the floor instead of Zeke Nnaji, but the officials didn’t allow Adelman to make his corresponding change because, as he described it, “I didn’t get him on the ice in time.”

    Adelman proceeded to use a timeout five seconds into the quarter so that he could yell at referee Josh Tiven, who allowed him to say his piece without issuing a technical foul. Adelman ended up subbing out Nnaji after a 12-second stint of playing time.

    Then in a sequence that summed up the Nuggets’ night, Holmes quickly got into foul trouble and had to be removed anyway.

    “That’s something that they’ve gotta think about in the league,” Adelman said. “That should be a delay of game on both of us. I’m trying to match somebody up with somebody else. They literally were hockey subbing back and forth. So I did. And then they decided to put the ball inbounds while I was still hockey subbing. … And Charles and I, we’re not trying to screw with the game. It’s just, I was trying to get a matchup. He was trying to get a matchup.

    “At some point, they have to tell us both, ‘You’re getting a delay,’ or they’ve gotta tell us to put five people on the court. So I was ultra-confused, and I had to use a timeout to get my point across, which is not good in a game you’re trailing.”

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    Bennett Durando

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  • Short-handed Nuggets blown out in fourth quarter, lose to Hawks

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    The short-handed Nuggets’ silver linings playbook: hang around, drill some timely 3-pointers and control the glass — even without a true center in the paint.

    It worked for three quarters Friday night, but the Nuggets, playing at home for the first time since Christmas Day, simply didn’t have enough talent on the floor to hold off Atlanta.

    The Hawks, taking advantage of 19 Denver turnovers on the night, used a fourth-quarter surge to run away with an 110-87 victory.

    It was Atlanta’s first win in Denver since 2019.

    An eight-point surge, sparked by 3-pointers by Tim Hardaway Jr. and Hunter Tyson, gave the Nuggets a 75-71 lead late in the third quarter, and the fans were blowing the lid off Ball Arena. But Onyeka Okongwu canned a 27-foot, 3-point, momentum-changing jumpshot to cut Denver’s lead to 75-74.

    That was the beginning of the end. Atlanta outscored the Nuggets 36-12 in the final 12 minutes. Plus, the Nuggets’ scrappiness from earlier in the game evaporated, in part because they are a tired team after a long, seven-game road trip.

    “I saw a really, really tired group,” coach David Adelman said. “That’s going to happen in the NBA, (coming back) from a seven-game road trip. They gave it everything they had in the third quarter to get back into it. But it does happen in the NBA. We know that. No excuses, ‘Blah, blah, blah,’ but it does happen.”

    The Nuggets trotted out the unlikely starting lineup of Hunter Tyson, Peyton Watson, DaRon Holmes II, Christian Braun and Jalen Pickett. Guard Jamal Murray, who racked up 33 assists in Denver’s two gutsy wins to end their East Coast road trip, was given the night off while dealing with illness and an ankle injury. An injury bug has been running through the Nuggets’ locker room for about three weeks.

    Star center Nikola Jokic was in attendance, dressed nattily in a grey suit. But Jokic, out since Dec. 29 with a hyperextended knee and bone bruise, could only cheer from the bench. The Nuggets don’t want to rush him back, but a return before the end of January hasn’t been ruled out.

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    Patrick Saunders

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  • TRAE-ded: Atlanta Hawks prepare for four-game road trip, move on without Trae Young

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    The Hawks are beginning a four-game road swing on Friday. Atlanta will start the trip in Denver with a rematch with the Nuggets. Denver came back from a large second-half deficit (as much as 18 points) to defeat Atlanta 134-133 on December 5. Hawks head coach Quin Snyder said about the loss, “This one hurts. They all hurt, but particularly how this one happened.” Atlanta guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker led the team with 30 points, while Denver All-Star Nikola Kokic (NBA rebounding leader with 12 per game, and in assists with 11 per game) led all scorers with 40 points. The Nuggets have been tough to defeat at home this season, and Atlanta, 11-10, is just a game over .500 on the road this season. 

    The Hawks held Pelicans star Zion Williamson (1) to 13 points during the first half. Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice

    On Sunday, January 11, the Hawks will play the Golden State Warriors for the first time this season. The two teams will meet in Atlanta on March 21. Future Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer Steph Curry (averaging nearly 30 points per game) has always been a big draw in Atlanta, and the Warriors game should be one of the sellouts that take place at State Farm Arena. 

    The Lakers will be the next opponent on the road trip. On Tuesday, January 13, the Hawks will play Luka Doncic (NBA scoring leader at 33.7 points per game), LeBron James, and the Lakers for the second time this season. Atlanta defeated Los Angeles 122-108 on Saturday, November 8. The road trip will end in the Pacific Northwest against the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday, January 15. 

    Trae Young was traded to the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night. The Hawks will receive CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert. Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice

    Before they left town, the Atlanta Hawks hosted the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday, January 7. Atlanta won the game 117-100 without multi-time all-star guard Trae Young. First, the subject of trade rumours, then a trade request, and now a trade to the Washington Wizards. Young could be seen going through his regular warmups before the game. Young was listed as inactive and didn’t play for a consecutive game. The Washington Wizards had been a target trade partner because of several expiring contracts, including guard CJ McCollum’s contract. Despite being in his 13th year in the NBA, McCollum can still play at a high level. He scored 46 points in a 132-113 Wizards victory in D.C. on November 25. Along with McCollum, Wizards guard Corey Kispert was also included in the deal, according to sources.  

    Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young (above) warmed up before the game on Wednesday night. Young did not play. Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice

    Before the game, the DeKalb Path Academy choir sang a beautiful rendition of “We Shall Overcome”. Whether the Hawks will overcome a trade involving one of the franchise’s best and most popular players remains to be seen. 

    The Hawks began the game against the Pelicans with their strongest first quarter of the week. Atlanta went ahead 23-11 following a three-pointer by second-year forward Zaccharie Risacher. Oft-injured forward Kristaps Porzingis pumped in a pair of three-pointers of his own as well. The first quarter ended with Atlanta ahead 37-26.

    Atlanta maintained a double-digit advantage, 53-42, midway through the second quarter courtesy of a third three-pointer of the half from Porzingis. They went into the locker room at halftime ahead 65-53. It was a rare first-half lead for Atlanta, which had lost two straight and eight of its last 10 games.

    Atlanta led by as much as 20 points before allowing the Pelicans to cut their deficit to 12 late in the game. Risacher led the Hawks with 25 points, while Porzingis and Luke Kennard each added 13 points. Hawks leading scorer, Jalen Johnson, scored 19 points.

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    Donnell Suggs

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  • Denver Nuggets finish marathon road trip with another gutsy win over Celtics

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    BOSTON — Finishing their seven-game road trip with a losing record wasn’t what the Nuggets had in mind, but under the circumstances, they’ll happily take 3-4.

    Less undermanned than they were in Philadelphia but still fending without a traditional center, the Nuggets completed their Eastern Conference marathon with a 114-110 win over the Celtics on Wednesday.

    Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray, left, wrestles for the ball against Boston Celtics guard Jordan Walsh, right, during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

    Jamal Murray went for 22 points, 17 assists and only two turnovers. Peyton Watson led the team in scoring with 30 points on a 6-for-7 night from 3-point range. Jalen Pickett and Zeke Nnaji earned another opportunity to play in David Adelman’s closing lineup, fresh off their heroic performances Monday at Philly.

    And Denver assembled a 14-0 run in the middle of the fourth quarter for the second straight game, putting away the East’s second-place Celtics (23-13). All three teams the Nuggets (25-12) defeated on their road trip are top-five seeds in the conference.

    Jaylen Brown led all scorers with 33, but on 29 shot attempts against a variety of coverages. Boston kept pressing and fouling in the last minute, shaving an 11-point deficit to three before Murray clinched the game with a late free throw.

    A road trip that seemed doomed after a loss to the Nets on Sunday ended with two straight surprising wins.

    After entering halftime tied at 58 for the second consecutive game, offense dried up for the Nuggets in the third quarter. They missed 11 straight shots during a six-minute scoreless stint and fell behind, 72-63. Then Murray buried a 3-pointer out of a timeout and found Tim Hardaway Jr. for another in transition the next possession. Suddenly, it was a one-score game again, and Denver was on its way to a 13-2 run.

    Anfernee Simons was the Celtics’ antidote. He hit a couple of 3s while Brown was on the bench to take them into the fourth with an 82-79 lead and Denver’s non-Murray minutes looming.

    Pickett, scoreless in the first three stanzas, helped weather the storm with a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer from Aaron Gordon and a floater in the pick-and-roll. Murray came in for Hardaway after only a four-minute rest.

    The longer the game wore on, the more the Nuggets felt their size disadvantage on the glass. Celtics center Neemias Queta secured 20 rebounds, eight of them in the first three minutes and change of the fourth. Boston compiled 27 second-chance points and won the rebounding battle by eight.

    Like they did in Brooklyn, the Nuggets used Aaron Gordon off the bench in a sub pattern conducive to his minutes restriction that enabled him to be on the court when Murray wasn’t. Gordon said after his return from a hamstring injury that he felt a step slow on defense, and that was the case again on a few possessions in Boston. Still, he left an imprint with 12 points and six rebounds. He played 23 minutes, staying in the same range as last Sunday.

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    Bennett Durando

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  • Inside the Nuggets’ most improbable win in years: ‘I was giving MVPs buckets out there’

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    PHILADELPHIA — These are the stories nine Nuggets bench players and their coach will tell decades from now about a peculiar basketball game in Philadelphia.

    It was a random enough game, one of 82 on a Monday in January, that it will fade from collective memory eventually. Just not from theirs. David Adelman will tell the story of “one of the best NBA wins I’ve ever been a part of in my life,” as he described it in the locker room, his stoic demeanor giving way to emotion that might’ve been verging on tears. “That was (freaking) special, man.”

    The final in overtime: Nuggets 125, 76ers 124.

    He’ll reminisce about strategizing for a seemingly insurmountable matchup without seven of his usual rotation players, without his entire starting lineup, without Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray. He’ll tell the story of his staff’s edict to “keep five guys in the paint and try to win the ball,” because the Nuggets didn’t have a healthy center, and they were playing against one with an MVP trophy. He’ll recount how he urged them to “play fast” and hunt easy buckets to avoid the limitations of a half-court offense. How he had no choice but to use all nine available players, including two who knew only garbage time in the NBA until a few days earlier.

    He’ll compare it to a February 2020 win over Utah, where the Nuggets had only seven guys at their disposal, also on the second night of a back-to-back. But one of the seven was Jokic.

    “This one is different,” Adelman said. “This one is unique, because our best player didn’t play. … When they’re older, 20 years from now, they’ll probably grab a beer and talk about this game.”

    When Nuggets coach David Adelman was 10, Erik Spoelstra knew he was destined for greatness

    Bruce Brown will tell the story of his game-winner that never actually went through the net. It was a fitting climax, first requiring the Nuggets to get a defensive stop while they were down one point with a six-second clock differential in overtime. They collapsed on 76ers rookie sensation VJ Edgecombe in the lane. Peyton Watson disrupted his driving layup. Spencer Jones blocked Joel Embiid’s tip-in attempt, tumbling over Edgecombe. While the bodies hit the floor, Brown was waiting at the free-throw line. The ball caromed to him for a one-man fast break.

    Keep five guys in the paint and try to win the ball. Play fast. “I didn’t have to call a timeout,” Adelman said. Embiid tried to chase Brown down for a block, but the ball had already touched the backboard when the Nuggets’ nemesis got to it. Goaltending was called with 5.3 seconds left.

    “I was in the perfect position,” Brown said. “I knew everyone was in the paint, trying to go rebound. I was just like, I’m going. There was only one person back.”

    He’ll tell the story of human nature. How it worked to Denver’s advantage. How he’s sure that a Philadelphia squad with Embiid, Edgecombe, Tyrese Maxey and Paul George in the lineup overlooked this game after winning four in a row. How Brown could hardly blame them because he’s been doing this long enough to know that it’s almost unavoidable in an 82-game season. He was the most experienced player available for the Nuggets. Their other eight players had combined for 94 NBA starts before Philadelphia, and only 45 before this season.

    “People are expecting us to lose. We have nothing to lose, right?” Brown thought. “Go out there and hoop. We’ve been on the other side before, where other teams sit people out, and the same thing happens. So I knew they were probably gonna take us a little light. … When I’m on the other side, sometimes that happens, right? The other team just comes out playing extremely hard, and you’re like, eh, bench guys; they’re not the starters.”

    Jalen Pickett will tell the story of how he quieted his older brother. “He’s my biggest critic,” the 6-foot-2 point guard said, “so I can’t wait to see what he says tonight.” They don’t get to see each other often during the NBA season. This was an exception, a reunion in Philly. Pickett, who finished his college career at Penn State, scored a career-high 29 points to lead the Nuggets. He added five rebounds and seven assists.

    “He was just absolutely in control of this basketball game,” Adelman said. “With all those great players on that court, he was the guy tonight.”

    Pickett’s first three years of pro hoops have been an emotional roller coaster. Drafted in the second round in 2023, he became a focal point of the tension between former general manager Calvin Booth and coach Michael Malone. Palace intrigue encroached on his confidence at times. But a 7-for-11 outside-shooting performance in Pennsylvania? Three step-back 3s over the 7-foot Embiid? It was the best Pickett has felt on a basketball court since “probably back in college, having the ball every possession.” He’ll tell the story of the Nuggets’ nickname for one night: “We were calling ourselves the Denver G League.”

    Hunter Tyson will tell the story of his go-ahead 4-point play, the crux of a 14-0 fourth-quarter run after Denver trailed 98-89 with 11 minutes to go. He scored half of his 14 points during that run. Perhaps no sequence was more crucial to the momentum than his contested rebound and pull-up 3-pointer in transition, which he buried while getting fouled. “We were just a bunch of dogs tonight,” he said afterward.

    He’ll tell the story of the bench’s comradery and patience. Tyson was drafted five spots after Pickett in 2023. Seven of Denver’s nine available players have suited up for the Grand Rapids Gold, a developmental G League affiliate. Eight of the nine were either drafted by the Nuggets outside of the top 20, or signed by the Nuggets out of college as undrafted free agents. Before this game, Tyson had played 50 total minutes in the first 35 contests of the season.

    “He might be our hardest worker,” Pickett said.

    “We’re blessed with the opportunity to be in the NBA, to be in this position. So I really try to keep a good perspective about things,” Tyson said. “And maybe even if I’m not playing as much as I want, just try and get a little better each day.”

    He’ll tell the story of how that patience was a virtue on the final play of overtime, when Maxey released a potential game-winning floater. It threatened the three hours of maximum effort Denver had devoted. But it rolled off the rim as time expired, igniting a spontaneous celebration of hugs.

    “Dude, I swear it sat there forever,” Tyson said, laughing. “I was really glad it didn’t go in.”

    Zeke Nnaji will tell the story of Adelman’s relentless encouragement, which Nnaji says dates back months before the one game when it was most necessary. “He says that we’re so deep, we’re so talented, that on a random night, it could be anyone’s night. He’s constantly hammering that message home,” Nnaji said.

    “I think it’s really DA. … He believed. And we all believed.”

    Nnaji is the third-longest tenured Nugget behind Jokic and Murray, but his four-year, $32 million contract has been widely ridiculed as a waste of money on a player who mostly rides the bench. For at least one night, none of that mattered. Nnaji was Embiid’s equal, amassing 21 points, eight rebounds, two steals and two blocks off the bench as Denver’s fourth-string center. He’ll tell the story of how it felt like a “normal” game, if only because the reserves are so accustomed to playing pickup together on the practice court. They need the reps.

    “We play with each other so much,” he said. “Especially when everyone (in the starting lineup) is healthy, we’re always playing with each other. … Opportunities like this are so rare.”

    Adelman will tell the story of Denver’s pregame shootaround someday, once he can get through it without choking up. “This morning, walking through (the plan) with nine people,” he said, “it was really special.” He had to stop himself there.

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    Bennett Durando

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  • Instant observations: Sixers fall to short-handed Nuggets in overtime, marking worst loss of season

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    The Sixers missed a prime opportunity to bank a stress-free victory on Monday night.

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    Adam Aaronson

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  • Jonas Valanciunas out 4 weeks in latest injury blow to Nuggets

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    CLEVELAND — New year, new injury update from the Nuggets.

    Jonas Valanciunas will be out for at least four weeks with a right calf strain, the team announced Thursday.

    Valanciunas, 33, was making his first start of the season Wednesday in place of the injured Nikola Jokic when he pulled up with a limp during the third quarter. He had 17 points, nine rebounds, four assists and three blocks when he left the game, an eventual win over his former team in Toronto. He left the arena in a walking boot.

    The Lithuanian backup center was just beginning to take on an increased role with Jokic entering a month-long recovery period from a bone bruise on his knee. Now, the tallest player available on Denver’s roster going into Friday’s game at Cleveland is Zeke Nnaji (6-foot-10).

    Coach David Adelman used DaRon Holmes II (6-9) as the next center up in Toronto. In his first NBA rotation minutes, Holmes went for 11 points and three rebounds in the win over the Raptors.

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    Bennett Durando

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  • Brandon Ingram’s buzzer beater called off, Nuggets survive Raptors without Nikola Jokic

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    TORONTO — The new year couldn’t arrive soon enough for the Nuggets.

    Already down four starters, including three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic, they were hanging on for dear life to a third-quarter lead Wednesday in Toronto. Then, as the final hours of 2025 ticked away, one more cursed injury beat the buzzer. As spontaneously as if he was struck by lightning, Jonas Valanciunas pulled up with a sudden limp between possessions and reached for his right leg — a non-contact calf strain.

    Jokic’s replacement was done before he could finish a stellar performance in his first start of the season, and the Nuggets were missing more than half of their usual rotation for the last 16 minutes of game time at Scotiabank Arena. What followed was a New Year’s Eve miracle under the circumstances: a 106-103 win over the Raptors despite shooting 28.2% as a team in the second half.

    Bruce Brown missed a pair of free throws with three seconds left when making just one would have clinched the game. Toronto didn’t have a timeout, but Scottie Barnes seized the rebound and fired ahead to Brandon Ingram — “absolutely unbelievable pass,” Nuggets coach David Adelman said afterward — who then buried an off-balance 3-pointer at the buzzer to force overtime. Multiple Nuggets players thought Ingram got the shot off as they watched the play in real time.

    It would have stretched them even thinner for an extra five minutes. Instead, the review process revealed the ball was still on Ingram’s fingers when the clock struck midnight.

    “I was really close to telling Spencer (Jones) to get back to match up with him,” Adelman said, “and then the other part of me thought, Bruce just missed one, am I really gonna wait 15 more seconds for Bruce to shoot it? … I knew it was really close. Right away, guys behind the bench said it wasn’t good, so that did calm me down a little bit.”

    “I really wasn’t thinking too much about whether he got it off in time or not. Just gotta think about the next minutes, prepare for that,” Jones told The Denver Post. “But we got the win either way. We deserved the win. We fought our (butts) off. We’ll go out and celebrate and have a good new year.”

    The Nuggets (23-10) missed 12 of their last 15 field goal attempts but escaped Canada with a messy win in their first game without Jokic, only at the cost of another center. DaRon Holmes II finished the game as Denver’s healthiest remaining option at the five.

    “I don’t know how serious it is. We’re just getting used to this,” an exasperated Adelman said. “It just seems like every night, somebody has something. The cool thing about it is there’s somebody else to get an opportunity from it. And that’s how you have to look at it. Hopefully Jonas heals up correctly. Hopefully it’s not serious, just like I’ve said the other 19 times this month.”

    Face-guarded, double-teamed and full-court pressed throughout the night, Murray patched together 21 points, seven rebounds and six assists in his home country. Watson was the team’s leading scorer with 24 points, hunting shots with the sort of reckless abandon his team needed.

    Valanciunas amassed 17 points (on six field goal attempts), nine rebounds, four assists and three blocks before he limped off as the latest casualty of the highly contagious injury bug going through Denver’s locker room. He left the arena in a boot, but early indications were that he didn’t suffer an Achilles injury.

    “He was great. … He’s been sick,” Adelman said. “I saw a much different energy from him tonight. … If he ends up playing the 32 minutes I thought I was going to play him, you’re probably looking at 25 (points) and 12 (rebounds). That’s what he can do, especially when teams have small-ball lineups like they do.”

    The Nuggets needed contributions from everyone in Adelman’s makeshift eight-man rotation just to carry a 63-54 lead into halftime, and that was before Valanciunas went down. Jalen Pickett started at shooting guard, while Tim Hardaway Jr. slid back to the bench to create the illusion of reinforcements. Four starters were in double figures at the break, and the fifth (Spencer Jones) was a team-best plus-10 despite scoring. He played more minutes than anyone for either side.

    Valanciunas set the tone by scoring Denver’s first four points and was impactful across the board in his first nine-minute stint, which ended when he picked up his second foul. As he took his seat, he had already supplied eight points, six boards, two assists, a steal and a block. He was replaced by DaRon Holmes II, who joined forces with Jones in the frontcourt for the next seven minutes.

    It was a rag-tag duo — one player on a two-way contract, another who’s on a standard rookie deal but has spent most of his season developing in the G League. Yet they made it work together, winning their first-half minutes together by three. Denver’s limited sources of shot creation when Murray isn’t on the court will be a major topic for the next month, so Holmes’ confidence driving and kicking multiple times — including once to assist a Pickett 3-pointer — was an important variable.

    Holmes also knocked down a corner three of his own and delivered a bruising screen to free up Bruce Brown for a floater, a play that kick-started a 5-0 mini-run without Murray or Valanciunas in the game. Those small surges of momentum will be crucial for a team trying to survive without so much talent. After Brown’s floater, Jones forced a live-ball turnover and found Hardaway in transition for a side-step three, forcing a Toronto timeout.

    The Raptors made runs throughout the night but couldn’t find consistent rhythm. Denver survived a 13-1 push to start the second half and a 9-0 run early in the fourth quarter, both of which gave Toronto brief leads.

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  • Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic suffers knee injury, leaves game in Miami

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    Nikola Jokic limped to the locker room after injuring his left knee three seconds before halftime of the Nuggets’ game in Miami on Monday night.

    Jokic’s left leg extended then buckled after the right foot of Denver’s Spencer Jones landed on his left foot during a defensive possession. In a nightmare visual for every Denver sports fan, Jokic crumpled to the ground holding his knee as the half ended. He had 21 points, five rebounds and eight assists in the half — numbers on pace to tie Oscar Robertson for the second-most career triple-doubles in NBA history by the end of the night.

    The three-time MVP center was officially designated as questionable with a knee injury. Jonas Valanciunas started the second half in his place.

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  • Cam Johnson injury: Nuggets say forward out 4 to 6 weeks with hyperextended knee

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    As two Nuggets starters inch closer to a return, another will replace them in street clothes on the sideline.

    Cam Johnson is expected to miss at least four to six weeks after hyperextending his right knee Tuesday in Dallas, the team announced before hosting Minnesota on Christmas. Johnson underwent an MRI that revealed a bone bruise on Wednesday — a best-case outcome after a painful landing that could’ve resulted in structural ligament damage.

    Still, after another day of assessing the severity of the injury, Denver determined Johnson will be its third starter to miss a stretch of four or more weeks this season. Aaron Gordon (hamstring) and Christian Braun (ankle) have not played in December, with coach David Adelman eyeing an upcoming seven-game road trip as the earliest opportunity for one or both to return from injuries.

    Johnson, 29, is averaging 11.7 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game in his first season as a Nugget. Denver traded Michael Porter Jr. and a future first-round pick for him in June. He started the season in a nasty slump but turned a corner around mid-November, helping the Nuggets to an 10-5 record in games without Gordon and Braun.

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    Bennett Durando

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  • Nuggets start game on 19-0 run, hold off Utah Jazz in bounce-back win

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    The Nuggets might’ve been guilty of coasting Monday, but they could afford to coast.

    Scoring the first 19 points of the game and leading by 25 after the first quarter, Denver bounced back from its largest loss of the season with a 135-112 blowout win over the Jazz at Ball Arena.

    The Nuggets (21-7) haven’t lost consecutive games yet this year. They’re about to play 10 of their next 13 on the road, including a back-to-back Tuesday in Dallas.

    Jamal Murray led all scorers with 27 on Monday, but this was a comprehensive team win. Peyton Watson added 20 points on nine shots in his return from a trunk injury that sidelined him for the last two games. Cam Johnson made all six of his 3-pointers. Nikola Jokic had a triple-double five minutes into the third quarter, on his way to 14 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists.

    Utah pushed the deficit inside of 20 points a couple of times, but Denver’s dominant start was more than enough to handle business against a division foe.

    Jokic started the onslaught with a pair of jump shots. Then Murray and Watson joined in. Watson reached double figures about five minutes into the game. It took Utah another three minutes after that to get to 10 as a team.

    Jamal Murray (27) of the Denver Nuggets makes a three pointer over Keyonte George (3) of the Utah Jazz during the second quarter at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado on Monday, Dec. 22, 2025. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)

    The Nuggets scored 15 fast-break points in the first quarter alone. They shot 9 of 14 from deep and assisted on 13 of their 15 total made shots. The Jazz put up nine more field goal attempts than Denver in the frame but still trailed 40-15 when the dust settled.

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    Bennett Durando

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