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Tag: Nikola Jokic

  • Nikola Jokic after Nuggets’ 11th straight win over Lakers: “Don’t get bored with success”

    Nikola Jokic after Nuggets’ 11th straight win over Lakers: “Don’t get bored with success”

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    LOS ANGELES — They showered Darvin Ham with boos as the coach was introduced before opening tip. They bombarded him with more pointed chants before time expired in an otherwise lifeless building.

    “Fire Darvin!”

    But is this Ham’s fault? D’Angelo Russell’s? The bench’s? All of the above? The Nuggets have infiltrated Los Angeles and sowed instability within an American institution. The Lakers’ superstar foundation is crumbling under the overwhelming pressure of Denver’s starting lineup, which is on the verge of securing a second playoff sweep of Los Angeles in as many seasons.

    “To beat a team like that in the first round, who I think if seeded differently, they could make it to the Western Conference Finals or something like that, it’s definitely a challenge,” Peyton Watson said. “But we’re up to it every time, and we love going out there and winning games.”

    With every successive win — every identical win — the unthinkable becomes closer to reality. The Nuggets might just own the Lakers.

    If they finish the job Saturday in Game 4, they’ll accomplish what not even the Steph Curry-Kevin Durant Warriors could, eliminating LeBron James via sweep two years in a row. Golden State needed five games in 2017.

    “They do not have a weakness offensively,” James said. “… Definitely one of the better teams that I’ve played in my career.”

    Maybe Denver will need five games in 2024. But if there’s any reason to believe that now, it’s this: The Nuggets are clearly a danger to themselves in this matchup. They are prone to stretches, even entire halves, of complacency against an opponent that can’t hold a lead against them. The ongoing 11-game win streak features six double-digit comebacks.

    “I think in this job as a coach, you always have to put on the hat of, ‘We have to fight human nature.’ And how do you do that when you’ve beaten a team 10 times in a row?” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said before Game 3, a 112-105 victory. “… Well, we’ve been down 12, we’ve been down 20. We’ve lost the first quarter of both games. We’ve been down at halftime in both games. That’s cool in your home building when you have that crowd behind you, but now it’s just us.”

    Those turned out to be hollow words. Denver spotted Los Angeles an 8-0 lead that grew to 12 before everyone other than Aaron Gordon decided to take Game 3 seriously.

    What followed was a 24-point swing between the second and third quarters. Like clockwork.

    “To be honest, I think every game is tougher and tougher,” Nikola Jokic said. “You can see, they were up 20 in Denver, in Game 2. They were up 12 today in the first half. But yeah, I think it’s really hard to play against the same team over and over again. You kind of get bored with the style of the play or whatever. So you just need to — especially for us, because we won the last three — just trust what we are doing and don’t get bored with success. Because it can (go) wrong really quick.”

    Michael Porter Jr. (1) of the Denver Nuggets knocks down a mid-range jumper over Anthony Davis (3) of the Los Angeles Lakers during the fourth quarter of the Nuggets’ 112-105 win at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Thursday, April 25, 2024. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)

    The Nuggets are so bored of this matchup that they’ve inadvertently become thrill-seekers, dangling a win in front of the Lakers every night only to pull it out of reach at the last second when Anthony Davis tries to snatch it.

    Moments of redemption for the Lakers are short-lived against Denver. Davis’s dominant first half against Jokic in Game 2 was forgotten because he didn’t score in the fourth quarter. Russell’s 23-point bounce-back was superseded by his scoreless Game 3. In the first and third games, he combined to shoot 6 for 27.

    The variations of a Los Angeles second unit have failed to take any advantage of Jokic’s rest minutes. Before Game 3, Taurean Prince was the only Lakers bench player who’d scored a point in the series. Nothing from Spencer Dinwiddie. Nothing from Gabe Vincent.

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    Bennett Durando

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  • Michael Porter Jr. embraces Nuggets brotherhood amid family sorrow

    Michael Porter Jr. embraces Nuggets brotherhood amid family sorrow

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    DENVER — Nobody needed basketball more this week than Michael Porter Jr.

    “I definitely tried to compartmentalize,” Porter Jr. said after the Nuggets Game 1 victory over Los Angeles. “Some bad stuff and some sad stuff happened to my brothers.”

    In the span of two days, Michael Porter Jr. watched one younger brother — Jontay — gamble his way to a lifetime ban from the NBA.

    Then, his youngest brother — Coban — was sentenced to six years in prison for killing a young woman in a drunk driving crash.

    “I wish it was me,” Michael Porter Jr. said testifying at the sentencing hearing on Friday — the day before Denver opened up the playoffs against the Lakers. “As the older brother in the family, I wish it was me. I’ve made plenty of mistakes in my life, I wish it was me not Coban.”

    Michael Porter Jr. missed practice to be at that hearing, but the entire team made sure he knew that his family was on their hearts.

    “Each one of them texted me separately and told me they got my back and if I needed anything they got me,” Michael Porter Jr. said. “To have these guys understand why I missed practice and have my back has been big for me.”

    After all of that, the hardwood floor at Ball Arena proved to be a sanctuary for MPJ on Saturday night.

    “That’s why basketball is such a beautiful thing,” Nikola Jokic said after watching Michael Porter Jr. score 19 points and help Denver claim a 1-0 series lead over Los Angeles. “You don’t think about [anything] but what’s going on on the floor.”

    “There’s so much going on for Michael Porter Jr. and his family,” Nuggets head coach Michael Malone said. “This allows him to get back to doing something not only that he loves but that he does very well.”

    MPJ, along with the rest of the Nuggets, got off to a slow start in Game 1. It’s hard to believe that had nothing to do with the pain inevitably weighing on his heart.

    “We’re human, we carry our emotions and the things that go on off the court onto the court,” Michael Porter Jr. said. “I’m mentally tough, I’ve been though a lot my whole career so it was just another one of those things that I had to play through.”

    Leaning on perseverance and championship experience, MPJ and the team as a whole found a rhythm in the second half and imposed their will on the Lakers in what turned out to be a comfortable victory.

    “For his mindset to be where it is, I applaud him,” Kentavious Caldwell-Pope said of Porter Jr. “We’re going to keep him, as a brother, we’re going to keep him straight.”

    The mental strength displayed by Michael Porter Jr. is nothing short of Herculean.

    He’s battled back surgeries, physical and mental pain — now, sorrow and scandal among his siblings.

    During these dark moments, Michael Porter Jr. leans on faith and family to provide warmth.

    “I’ve got 15, 16 more brothers in [the locker room],” Porter Jr. said. “I knew I had to be here for them and come in here and do my job.”

    “Of course family is the first thing but we are some kind of family too,” Jokic said. “Hopefully he’s going to find peace and he’s going to be in a good spot mentally.”

    Winning won’t cure everything, but it works as a soothing balm for now.

    While the tempest rages around Porter Jr., throwing himself into work — at this time of year — may be a championship decision.

    Michael Porter Jr. embraces Nuggets brotherhood amid family sorrow

    The Follow Up

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    Nick Rothschild

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  • Renck: Michael Porter Jr. finds support from teammates as he seeks refuge on court

    Renck: Michael Porter Jr. finds support from teammates as he seeks refuge on court

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    There is a chair in front of Michael Porter Jr.’s locker where the artwork rests. It was a gift from teammates Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Jamal Murray, a reminder that there is no paved road back to an NBA title. It reads simply: “I am going to do today what others won’t, so that tomorrow I can do what others can’t.”

    Porter looked back at the picture Saturday night with comfort.

    “I have to go hang that up at the house,” Porter said.

    Porter, 25, had an awful week off the court. Wednesday, his brother Jontay, 24, a former Toronto Raptors reserve, received a lifetime ban from the NBA for allegedly betting on basketball and disclosing confidential information to bettors. Two days later, Coban, 22, a former University of Denver guard, received a six-year prison sentence for a drunken driving crash that killed a 42-year-old woman last year.

    Porter missed Nuggets practice Friday to testify on Coban’s behalf, telling the judge how Coban provided a source of motivation growing up, always pushing him to work harder and get better.

    “It’s not often a big brother looks up to his little brother,” Porter said.

    It was against this backdrop that Porter entered the playoffs. The scrutiny only amplified because of the stakes and the opponent.

    Would MPJ be able to find refuge on the court?

    What unfurled suggests the playoffs will remain a continuation of the best stretch of his career. Porter delivered 19 points and eight rebounds in the Nuggets’ 114-103 Game 1 victory. He did not turn the ball over. His length and athleticism caused fits for the Lakers.

    “I definitely tried to compartmentalize — some bad and sad stuff with a couple of my brothers,” Porter said. “But I’ve got, you know, 15, 16 more brothers in here. I knew I had to be here for them, and come in and do my job and prepare to do it at a high level.”

    Basketball offers an escape, a two-hour diversion from reality. Yet the specter of what has happened to Porter’s family is inescapable. No one would have been surprised had he been distracted. What Saturday revealed offers hope for this postseason. The caring and trust of teammates is real, genuine. Without it, there is movement but no progress.

    “For his mindset to be where it is, I applaud him,” guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope said. “We are going to keep him as a brother and keep him straight.”

    Porter appreciates the environment his teammates have created, enveloping him with a cocoon of support. After all, he is not pretending to be immune from what has happened in his personal life.

    “Each one of them texted me separately and just told me that they’ve got my back. That if I need anything they’ve got me,” Porter said. “We’re human, so we carry our emotions and the things that go on off of the court, onto the court. But I am mentally tough.”

    As an X-factor, Porter creates options and questions, a refrain that has followed him since he was drafted. His talent is unique – a 6-foot-10 wing capable of living behind the arc and working the boards. When the Nuggets defense intensified in the third quarter – Denver outscored the Lakers 32-18 – it created opportunities in transition. During these times, Porter thrives, drifting to the corners for wide-open looks.

    The Lakers have no answer for the Nuggets bigs, most notably the future three-time MVP Nikola Jokic. Coach Darvin Ham insisted, like he did a year ago, that there are adjustments they held back as part of the series chess match. Riiiiight. Is he saving them for a beach volleyball game in Cancun?

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    Troy Renck

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  • Nuggets to rematch Los Angeles Lakers, LeBron James in first-round playoff series

    Nuggets to rematch Los Angeles Lakers, LeBron James in first-round playoff series

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    If the Nuggets really want the title of “Lakers’ Daddy,” they’ll have the chance to earn it with an earlier-than-expected rematch.

    Less than a year after their Western Conference Finals sweep, the Nuggets will face the Lakers in the first round of the 2024 playoffs, tipping off Saturday at Ball Arena with Game 1. Denver (57-25) enters the series having won eight consecutive head-to-head matchups against Los Angeles.

    The Lakers (47-35) finished the regular season in eighth place and defeated the New Orleans Pelicans 110-106 in the Play-In Tournament on Tuesday to earn the matchup. Pelicans star Zion Williamson scored 40 points but mysteriously disappeared to the locker room with an apparent injury after scoring a game-tying floater with 3:19 remaining.

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    Bennett Durando

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  • Nuggets might watch Lakers vs. Pelicans together, but “we don’t have a preferred opponent”

    Nuggets might watch Lakers vs. Pelicans together, but “we don’t have a preferred opponent”

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    MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The tarp is being removed from the pool for the first time this year at the Jokic household.

    “We have good weather,” Nikola Jokic said Sunday afternoon in Memphis, his mind already back in Denver enough to know the local forecast. “So I’m going to go in my swimming pool. … Probably get some treatment. Relax a little bit.”

    The Nuggets have five nights off before they play again, in Game 1 of the Western Conference playoffs Saturday at Ball Arena. They have two full days before they’ll know their first-round opponent — either the Los Angeles Lakers or New Orleans Pelicans.

    They intend to enjoy the brief moment of stillness while they can. Because they hope to enjoy what happens next even more.

    “I think we all kind of were tired of the regular season,” Michael Porter Jr. said.

    Common side-effect of winning a championship. The first 82 games suddenly don’t feel as important. The playoffs can’t arrive soon enough. Champions become adrenaline junkies, living for the pressure and excitement. After a rollicking win over the Timberwolves last Wednesday, Nuggets players sat in the locker room and fantasized about the crowd noise of a playoff environment, the extra oomph of player introductions. Ball Arena had just given them an early taste of it.

    Maybe that’s why they fell apart two nights later in San Antonio. Second-half blowout. Lottery team. Lethargic crowd. Minds in the future. The Nuggets lost focus, lost a 23-point lead and lost their stranglehold on the No. 1 seed in the West.

    The regular-season finale in Memphis was an opportunity seized to salvage something out of their slip to third place in the standings. Minnesota’s loss to Phoenix handed the No. 2 seed back to Denver (57-25), an extra series with that coveted home-court advantage and a different path through the playoffs. Lemons to lemonade.

    “In the second round, we’ll get another round of home-court, and then the only way we wouldn’t get the Western Conference Finals home-court is if OKC makes it all the way,” Porter said. “Which they very well could. So definitely some benefits to being the second seed.”

    “We’ll see in a couple months how it played out for us,” Reggie Jackson said. “Still a tough loss in San Antonio, just because we completely controlled our own destiny. But we still control our destiny. It’s just about playing our best ball at the right time.”

    First, a few days to breathe. The afternoon game time Sunday allowed the Nuggets to fly home from Memphis immediately after the game and have most of the evening to relax. Monday is also a “black-out day,” with nobody going to the team facility or working.

    “Let everybody stay home, get some rest, be with your families, whatever it is you need to do,” coach Michael Malone said. “And then obviously on Tuesday, maybe have a light player development type of a day. And may get together as a team to watch that game on Tuesday night.”

    That’s the burning question now. Who would the Nuggets rather play in the first round? The seventh-seeded Pelicans, a roster that might end up without an All-NBA selection and a core with minimal playoff experience? Or the eighth-seeded Lakers, a franchise that strikes fear into everybody but a current iteration that has lost eight consecutive games to Denver? It’s a fresh matchup or a grudge match.

    “I think it’s pretty even throughout,” Porter said. “New Orleans presents a lot of challenges. Especially with (Brandon Ingram) being back. But the Lakers are a very good team as well. We may have swept them last year (in the Western Conference), but it was a battle every game. I think they ran every game, and then it came down to the last two or three minutes where we kind of pulled away. So it may have looked like we dominated, but that was a very good matchup last year, so we’re taking everyone serious.”

    Porter, despite Denver’s scoreboard-watching Sunday, wanted to be clear: “We don’t have a preferred opponent.”

    Meanwhile, Malone wasn’t focused on the “who” so much as the “when.”

    “You find out a lot sooner than you did as a 1-seed,” he said. “So that helps.”

    Indeed, the Nuggets will have more time to scout one specific opponent than they did last year as the top seed, which doesn’t find out its adversary until Friday at the conclusion of the Play-In Tournament. The real work starts Wednesday for Denver. Even that rumored gathering for the Lakers-Pelicans game Tuesday night would be more of a social event than a work function.

    “We’ll probably get together and watch it and just try to relax at the same time,” Jackson said. “Try to do a little bit of scouting, but just trying to do a little bit of hanging out. Build some comradery and just relax a little bit.”

    The situation in New Orleans will be intriguing. The Lakers were already there Sunday for Game 82. Their 124-108 rout vaulted them to the No. 8 position and knocked the Pelicans from No. 6 to No. 7 … all for the two teams to play again in the same arena 48 hours later. The Lakers don’t even have to fly home to Los Angeles and back.

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    Bennett Durando

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  • Nuggets blow 23-point lead to Spurs, losing 1-seed footing before finale

    Nuggets blow 23-point lead to Spurs, losing 1-seed footing before finale

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    SAN ANTONIO — To hold serve at the top of the Western Conference standings, the Nuggets had to weather one last Wemby storm.

    They couldn’t.

    In what might have been the last game of Victor Wembanyama’s Rookie of the Year-destined season, the Nuggets kept him flustered for one half before he turned into a flamethrower in the other. Denver couldn’t survive the surge, losing their seeding on a Devonte’ Graham transition floater with 0.9 seconds remaining for a 121-120 defeat Friday night at Frost Bank Center. It was Denver’s only deficit of the second half, right after Nikola Jokic missed an open foul line jumper.

    “We had our chances,” Jokic said. “I missed an open look on the last shot. It’s something that I need to make. I missed, and they had a fast break.”

    The Spurs scored 71 points in the second half.

    “We didn’t defend at all,” coach Michael Malone said. “… The very few times they did miss in the fourth quarter, we gave up eight offensive rebounds for 13 points. So give San Antonio a ton of credit. They stayed with it. We were up by 23 at one point, and just, too many blow-bys, too many 3s, too many leaving our feet on shot fakes. Just a lot of things that I would say did not go our way down the stretch.”

    The Nuggets (56-25) will now finish in third place via a three-way tiebreaker if Denver, Minnesota and Oklahoma City each win their finales Sunday. The Nuggets play in Memphis.

    “It’s disappointing,” Malone said. “Really disappointing.”

    To get to this point, a 23-point lead in the third quarter had to be sliced to six, setting up a frantic fourth in which the clutch Nuggets finally wilted against the worst team in the West. It was 81-60 with 8:16 remaining in the third frame. Then Wembanyama buried a pull-up three. During a 26-9 Spurs run over four minutes and change, he scored 17 of 19 San Antonio points, including a trio of consecutive 3-pointers. The third was enough to finally warrant an aggravated Malone timeout. Reggie Jackson entered and turned it over on an eight-second violation.

    Malone would take one more rage timeout in the quarter. The Nuggets responded to that one better, scoring the last six of the period. Role players were mostly solid in Jokic’s rest minutes, but the starters were lackadaisical on defense and missed open shots. Jamal Murray was Denver’s most consistent source of offense throughout the game, scoring 35 on 5-of-11 shooting beyond the arc. Jokic scored 14 in the first quarter and eight the rest of the game.

    “If you remember last year, we did a kind of similar thing,” Jokic said. “We lost to a couple teams (at the end of the regular season; three consecutive on the road). So it seems like we didn’t learn our lesson. But maybe the year needs to be repeated, the same thing happens and hopefully we’re gonna win a championship again.”

    San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama (1) shoots over Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (15) during the second half of an NBA basketball game in San Antonio, Friday, April 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

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    Bennett Durando

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  • Before Nuggets’ high-stakes clash with Timberwolves, Michael Malone and Nikola Jokic must exorcise Utah demons: “We don’t really acclimate to the altitude very well”

    Before Nuggets’ high-stakes clash with Timberwolves, Michael Malone and Nikola Jokic must exorcise Utah demons: “We don’t really acclimate to the altitude very well”

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    It’s clear which of the Nuggets’ four remaining games is the most consequential, but what precedes it might be the dictionary definition of a trap game.

    There’s even a precedent. Ninth-year coach Michael Malone had that on his mind as he arrived at Ball Arena for practice Monday morning, causing him to ask special assistant to the head coach Andrew Munson for evidence.

    “I knew that we had struggled in Salt Lake City,” Malone said. He didn’t realize just how bad his coaching record was, though.

    Munson informed him that Denver has lost six consecutive road games against the Utah Jazz entering their matchup Tuesday. Sounded about right to Malone. “But…” Munson continued, catching Malone off guard — “I’m like oh, there’s a ‘but’ to this?” — the Nuggets are also 1-14 in Salt Lake during Malone’s tenure.

    Bulletin board material: obtained.

    Denver’s excursion to face Utah (29-49) is the forgettable first half of a critical back-to-back that will help shape the final seeding of the Western Conference playoffs. The second half is back home against Minnesota in a showdown that could finally determine the No. 1 seed once and for all. With four games to go and the entire league idle Monday, the Nuggets (54-24) know this much: They will automatically clinch that top seed if they win out. But if they lose to the Timberwolves, with whom they’re currently tied, they’ll all but forfeit the race. Minnesota would have to lose two of its other three remaining games, while Denver would have to win all three. And Oklahoma City would have to lose at least one more.

    Needless to say, human nature might be to disregard that irksome round-trip flight to Utah, where a lottery team awaits.

    “My most important message to our group today was, everybody’s talking about Wednesday night; I don’t care about Wednesday night,” Malone said. “Because if we don’t handle our business tomorrow night, that takes away from the importance of Wednesday.”

    So Malone quizzed likely MVP winner Nikola Jokic about the number of games they’ve won together at Delta Center. The Nuggets center guessed three. “I wish it was three,” Malone responded.

    He had one-on-one discussions with a number of Denver’s players Monday, making sure everyone was on the same page entering the last week of the regular season. As of about noon, Malone believed the entire roster would be making the trip, “and hopefully they’re all available to play tomorrow night.” That includes Jamal Murray, who returned Saturday after a seven-game absence, and Aaron Gordon, who missed the last win with a foot injury.

    Despite various bumps and bruises, the Nuggets are feeling good overall about their collective physical state with the playoffs looming.

    It’s their mental state that has Malone worried. And the apparently cursed state that is Utah.

    “I think it’s jet lag,” he deadpanned. “That’s a really long flight. And we don’t really acclimate to the altitude very well.”

    KCP’s off day

    One of those bumps is the swollen and distorted-looking right pinky finger of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who dislocated it during a game in February. Since then, he’s been deciding during his pregame shooting routine whether he wants to tape up the finger or leave it alone that night.

    Whatever he’s doing is working — he’s shooting 47.6% from 3-point range in 22 games since the All-Star break — but he says the injury “won’t heal up until the summertime.”

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    Bennett Durando

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  • Nikola Jokic triple-double, Michael Porter Jr. 31-point game lead Nuggets to win over Knicks

    Nikola Jokic triple-double, Michael Porter Jr. 31-point game lead Nuggets to win over Knicks

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    After a successful week on the road, the defending NBA champions treated Ball Arena to a quintessential Denver Nuggets game.

    Michael Porter Jr. continued his hot streak with 31 points on 13-of-16 shooting, and Nikola Jokic amassed 30 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists in a 113-100 win over the New York Knicks on Thursday night.

    Jamal Murray added 23 points before going to the locker room early with an apparent leg injury in the last minute of regulation, as Denver (49-21) was pulling away for its 13th win in 15 games since the All-Star break.

    “Just turned his ankle a little bit,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said, not seeming too concerned despite the prolonged amount of time Murray took to get up after an awkward landing.

    The Nuggets and Thunder are tied atop the Western Conference standings, though Oklahoma City possesses the edge in win percentage as well as the head-to-head tiebreaker.

    Porter is averaging 21 points per game since the break.

    When they visited Madison Square Garden at the end of a five-game January road trip, the Nuggets sleep-walked through their worst assist-to-turnover game (20 to 19) of the season. New York’s formidable defense stood tall, with OG Anunoby snatching six steals.

    “When you get your (butt) kicked,” Malone said pregame Thursday, “they have our full attention.”

    Except this time, the Knicks were wrapping up a four-game Western Conference trip, and Anunoby (among other key players) was out with an injury.

    Denver’s extraordinary starting five feasted. Jokic was one rebound shy of his 22nd triple-double of the season by halftime. Porter had a 6-for-6 shooting half, reminiscent of his recent perfect game in Los Angeles. Murray combined unlikely off-hand finishing with adventurous play-making. Aaron Gordon spun around defenders for a transition dunk. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope minimized Jalen Brunson as much as possible, keeping his 26 points to 23 shot attempts.

    “I just really, sincerely hope that the national media and everybody else following this great league really takes into account the great job he does every night,” Malone said. “We see it. I see it every day. … But he is an incredible defensive player You don’t stop a guy like Jalen Brunson. He had two 40-point games on this road trip. But I thought he made him work for everything tonight.”

    In a particularly breathtaking third-quarter sequence, Gordon initiated a set from the left wing by passing to Jokic, who was stepping up toward the top of the key. He thrives when he can operate from the middle of the floor with his back to the basket. From the right wing, Porter motioned to his right to push his defender (Donte DiVincenzo) back a step, to the same level as Jokic — basically creating a screen for himself. Porter slid back to the left, received a dribble handoff as DiVincenzo went underneath Jokic, and shot-faked as DiVincenzo left his feet to contest. Gordon’s man, Josh Hart, was stuck in no man’s land as Gordon slipped to the basket. Porter passed to him, and Gordon kicked to Caldwell-Pope in the corner as Brunson collapsed. Two extra passes, three points.

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    Bennett Durando

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  • Why Nuggets want Reggie Jackson to stay aggressive during slump: “This team is mad at you if you don’t shoot”

    Why Nuggets want Reggie Jackson to stay aggressive during slump: “This team is mad at you if you don’t shoot”

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    MIAMI — The backcourt that shepherded Denver to consecutive road wins in Miami during last year’s NBA Finals was waiting to check back into the game, waiting to send Heat fans marching toward the exits once again. Clutch time is when the Nuggets’ starters thrive.

    But these two starters decided they’d rather let the backup backcourt do the honors.

    After a barrage of Reggie Jackson jumpers, Jamal Murray and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope went to coach Michael Malone and told him to keep Jackson and Christian Braun in the game. Malone obliged, and the Nuggets kept pulling away for a 100-88 win that they hope will be important for reasons that transcend their temporary, solitary claim to first place in the West.

    Jackson needed a new dose of confidence.

    “I’ve been in a crazy slump,” he said.

    Earlier in the fourth quarter, Braun scored seven critical points during Nikola Jokic’s rest minutes to protect a slim lead. Then Jackson took over, scoring from 17, 15 and 26 feet on three consecutive possessions in a span of 1:12 to double Denver’s lead and force an Erik Spoelstra timeout.

    “I had Jamal Murray and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope at the scorer’s table during that stretch. And this speaks a lot about our group,” Malone said. “Both those guys said to me, ‘Coach, let Reggie ride. Let CB ride. This group is playing well.’ And part of our culture — because we do have a culture in Denver as well — part of our culture is being selfless. Getting over yourself. And I think that’s another example of how our team is always getting over the individual, thinking about the collective. Really happy for Reggie Jackson.”

    Malone was not-so-subtly throwing shade at Miami’s “Heat Culture” mantra in his postgame comments, but his proud advocacy for Nuggets Culture was validated by the team’s reaction to Jackson’s heat check.

    “You could see it transpire on the court. That was the cool part,” Jackson told The Denver Post. “I’ve been playing long enough. You see a lot of things the older you get. You witness it. I knew my minutes were kind of up. I knew Jamal was supposed to come on the court. … And then I see Jamal motioning to Coach, like, ‘Keep him in. Let him play.’ I saw Pope doing the same thing for C.B. So that was a really cool moment for C.B. and myself.”

    For Jackson in particular, the vote of confidence was revitalizing. In the first 30 games of the season, he averaged 13.2 points on 48.6% shooting, including 38.1% from 3-point range. He led the Nuggets to a handful of wins in November when Murray was out with a strained hamstring. In the next 35 games entering this matchup, Jackson shot 38.7% from the floor and 30.9% from outside, averaging only 7.4 points and scoring in double figures only 10 times.

    After the win in Miami, he has still gone a season-long 10 consecutive games without touching double digits, but seven of his nine points Wednesday were scored during the game-clinching burst.

    He says his teammates have been urging him to take those shots despite the drop in efficiency.

    “They want me to continue to be myself. Continue to be aggressive. They’ve been kind of upset at me for not playing my game the last few,” Jackson said. “So then I started playing aggressive. Even still in the midst of missing shots. I think I had a 1-for-9 night. I had like a 1-for-7. But just hearing the encouragement from my teammates … once you have a great group like that — front office, coaches, teammates — believing in you like that, you can’t do anything but start believing in yourself again. So like I said: Hit a slump. Had some dark days. Tough days. But having that encouragement has made it easier to come out here and keep attacking, keep pushing ahead and just live with the results.”

    Jackson’s defining quality is his one-on-one scoring capability. There have been flashes in recent games when he puts the moves on an opposing guard but simply misses the shot he generates.

    “That’s the annoying part,” he said. “I think the reassuring part is that I can still get to a spot and get to a shot. So that’s always the best part. I think once I’m not able to get to a shot, that would be a little worrisome. That’s probably when you’ve gotta hang it up. … Just knowing I can still get there. And now it’s on me to go ahead and continue to get in the gym and find a way to complete the play. So that’s really what I’ve been trying to focus on. Footwork. Having my confidence down, and just continuing to trust in the reps, trust in the work.”

    Jackson’s rotations have changed recently. He’s not sharing the floor with Murray much anymore, after a stretch of games in which Malone tried a variation of the second unit that deployed both point guards at the same time. Instead, Justin Holiday is filling the extra backcourt spot in that lineup; Jackson is subbing back in with Jokic to give Murray a brief rest. That’s why Jackson was on the floor as a competitive NBA Finals rematch entered the last five minutes.

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    Bennett Durando

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  • “Make History, Not Hype”: How The Converse Weapon Is Having A Resurgence

    “Make History, Not Hype”: How The Converse Weapon Is Having A Resurgence

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    When you think of basketball shoes, your mind instantly zooms to Nike. You think of the Greatest Of All Time. Michael Jordan has created an empire of Air Jordan sneakers with a competitive resale market behind them.

    But there was a world before Michael Jordan – before Nike took the leap and offered Jordan a stake in the company for a shoe deal. Before MJ, Nike meant zero in the basketball world. They sold him on the pitch that it’s about who’s in the shoes, not the shoes themselves. But before MJ, what kicks were players wearing?

    Oddly enough, Converse. Yes, the popular high-top canvas sneaker was once the instrument of that satisfying symphony of squeaking you hear on the courts. And there was one style in particular that dominated the market: the Converse Weapon.

    The History Of The Converse Weapon

    Converse Weapon Ads

    Converse

    The Converse Weapon’s slogan was fittingly “more of NBA’s big guns are wielding a new Weapon.” That was a humble nod to the players who filled the popular leather sneaker like Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Isaiah Thomas, and Mark Aguirre (to name a few.)

    In the late 80’s, every player was wearing the Converse Weapon. With NBA legend, Philadelphia 76er Julius Erving, already under the Converse belt, the Weapon was their most elevated design yet.

    And of course- there’s the much-documented Larry Bird-Magic Johnson feud that helped Converse market their shoe further. Both players dominated in the Weapons, so when they faced off, billboards showed photos of the two with the tagline, “Choose Your Weapon.”

    By signing so many stars to their studded roster, Converse had everyone wearing their shoes. But exclusivity wins in the end. Nike gives everything they have to Michael Jordan, and Michael Jordan alone…and they take over as the dominating basketball shoe.

    But, that doesn’t end the Converse Weapon’s story. In fact, it’s time to say hello (again) to the new era of the Converse Weapon.

    The New Converse Weapon

    new Converse Weapon

    The new Converse Weapon

    GQ

    In 2024, nostalgia-core is a huge trend. We love to recycle, which is why 70’s style bell bottoms are back and Y2k low-rise mini skirts are somehow still going strong. Fur vests aren’t avant-garde, neither are loose bottoms with smaller tops.

    The time is right for the Converse Weapon to make its great return. Really leaning into the nostalgia, Converse shared that the shoe is dropping in familiar colorways and the same leather, chunky high-top style we all know and love.

    This is a part of Converse’s CX Project, which has already re-imagined the classic Chuck Taylor canvas sneaker. Using the original 1986 blueprint for their design, CX added their foam midsole and redesigned the outsole.

    Not only are they bringing back the style made popular by Magic Johnson, but they’re also using one of the most fashionable NBA All-Stars, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, as the face of the shoe’s new era.

    The new slogan is “Make History, Not Hype.” It’s a not-so-subtle dig at competing brands like Under Armour who have built their brand around big names like rapper Jack Harlow (who starred in the reboot of the 1992 basketball film, White Men Can’t Jump.)

    Converse wants to let performance do the talking. Legacy doesn’t hurt either. With such a historic shoe, it just makes sense to invite SGA to be the face of the resurgence.

    “It’s an iconic shoe for many reasons,” Gilgeous-Alexander told GQ, “but it’s cool to bring back these ‘80s sneakers in their original look and colors. I’m all about vintage, so this silhouette coming back just feels right.”

    Gilgeous-Alexander may have piqued the interest of the non-basketball-obsessed internet with his MSCHF Big Red Boots, his presence at Fashion Weeks across the world, or simply his pregame fits. But on the court, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is just as show-stopping. He’s really having himself a year.

    Who Is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander?

    new Converse Weapon

    SGA for Converse Weapon

    GQ

    SGA is a point guard for the Oklahoma City Thunder, a first-round draft pick in 2018 who is averaging 22 points per game in his career so far. But what’s set him apart from the rest this year despite his dominant statlines are his leadership abilities.

    Shai has quickly become a frontrunner in talks for the NBA’s MVP race this year, alongside greats like Denver Nuggets’ center Nikola Jokic and Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antektokounmpo.

    This season alone, he’s averaging over 30 ppg and the Thunder are second in the Western Conference, with a 42-19 record.

    Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the perfect fit for Converse for so many reasons: he’s one of the best in the game right now, he’s one of the leading fashion entities in the sports industry, and he’s not slowing down.

    Converse thinks SGA is the perfect fit to usher in a new generation of the shoe…and so do we.

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    Jai Phillips

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  • Nuggets, Celtics to play 2024 preseason games in Abu Dhabi, NBA announces

    Nuggets, Celtics to play 2024 preseason games in Abu Dhabi, NBA announces

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    The Denver Nuggets and Boston Celtics will play a pair of 2024-25 preseason games in Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates, the NBA announced Wednesday morning.

    Part of an ongoing collaboration between the NBA and Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture and Tourism, the games will take place Friday Oct. 4 and Sunday Oct. 6. The venue and ticket information will not be shared until a later date, according to a news release.

    “There is incredible momentum around basketball in the UAE and across the Middle East,” NBA deputy commissioner and COO Mark Tatum said in a statement, “and we believe these games as well as our year-round grassroots development and fan engagement efforts will be a catalyst for the continued growth of the game in the region.”

    The Nuggets (42-20) and Celtics (48-13) will face off Thursday (8 p.m. MT, TNT) at Ball Arena in their last meeting of the 2023-24 regular season. Boston holds the best record in the league, while Denver is the defending NBA champion.

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    Bennett Durando

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  • Nuggets dominate clutch minutes again to spoil Lakers’ celebration of LeBron James scoring milestone

    Nuggets dominate clutch minutes again to spoil Lakers’ celebration of LeBron James scoring milestone

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    LOS ANGELES — The clutch-time Nuggets spoiled another landmark night for the Lakers.

    On the night LeBron James became the first player to ever score 40,000 career points, Denver came back from an 11-point deficit for a 124-114 win, the team’s sixth consecutive since the All-Star break, on Saturday night.

    Nikola Jokic went for 35 points and 10 rebounds. Michael Porter Jr. added an immaculate 25 without missing a single shot. He was 10 for 10 in the game, including 5 for 5 from beyond the arc.

    The Nuggets (42-19) have won eight consecutive games over the Lakers.

    They entered the fourth quarter of this one tied at 89 and needing a key stretch from the second unit. It mostly delivered, until the very end of Jokic’s rest minutes. Peyton Watson supplied four points and an emphatic block as the Nuggets took a five-point lead, but James nullified the block by absorbing contact with Zeke Nnaji for an and-one. He missed the free throw that would’ve tied the game, but a Denver turnover seconds later led to a go-ahead James three. Timeout Michael Malone, down two.

    Enter Jokic. Cue clutch finish for Nuggets starters.

    They trailed 108-105 as clutch time officially began in the last five minutes. Justin Holiday sank a 3-pointer while playing for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, out for personal reasons. Aaron Gordon finally cashed in on an open corner three for the lead. Then Jokic and Jamal Murray took over again. The game ended on a 19-6 run.

    Public and media anticipation surrounding the final meeting of the regular season between these teams wasn’t particularly concerned with the matchup or its implications. Denver was going into a building sold out by box score watchers experiencing LeBron Fever. He entered the game an inevitable nine points away from the never-achieved milestone, and for the first quarter and change, that was the primary focus every time he had the ball. Malone was effusive in his praise of James while fielding a handful of questions about him pregame, but in terms of the moment itself, the ninth-year Nuggets coach was definitive.

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    Bennett Durando

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  • Nikola Jokic on his defense after 4 steals vs. Warriors: “I think I’m not bad, not good. I’m in the middle.”

    Nikola Jokic on his defense after 4 steals vs. Warriors: “I think I’m not bad, not good. I’m in the middle.”

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    SAN FRANCISCO — The cartoonish Defensive Player of the Game chain is objectively the Nuggets’ corniest tradition, a blinged-up symbol of morale and affirmation usually reserved for college football sidelines rather than NBA locker rooms. If it seems one is too many, brace for impact.

    “We only travel with one. We’ve gotta change that,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said after a 119-103 win over the Warriors on Sunday. “Because if we had two chains, Nikola would have gotten the other one.”

    The lone chain couldn’t belong to anyone else but Kentavious Caldwell-Pope for his dogged efforts in trying to out-cardio Steph Curry in the half-court. But in Nikola Jokic’s trio of videogame performances since the All-Star break, his defense has stood up respectably next to his offense. He’s averaging 27.3 points, 16.7 rebounds and 15 assists on 68.7% shooting … plus three “stocks,” a combination of blocks and steals.

    When he’s on the floor this season, the Nuggets are allowing 112.1 points per 100 possessions, 1.3 below their overall total as a team.

    As a crowded MVP race heats up with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Luka Doncic, Jokic’s four steals against Golden State were a testament to the trickiness in evaluating his defense. He’s not always noticeably impactful — the No. 1 argument skeptics make against his annual candidacy is that he’s a liability, even — but when he’s engaged in the game plan and actively anticipating an opponent’s next move the way he does on offense, he can be a master of his role in Denver’s defensive system.

    “I think I’m not bad, not good,” Jokic said Sunday at Chase Center. “I’m in the middle.”

    By the same token that Jokic doesn’t dunk the basketball often, he rarely swats shots or plays above the rim defensively. Instead, the Nuggets maximize their center’s strengths by having him guard higher up against ball screens than most big men in the NBA, subsequently leaning heavily on weak-side help from Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter Jr. to contain rollers. When Jokic can play from the middle of the floor, his vision and IQ work in sync with his quick hands.

    “The more he’s up in pick-and-rolls and on the ball … that’s what he’s great at,” Caldwell-Pope said recently. “Just being up. Active hands. Getting deflections when they try to make that pocket pass.”

    Jokic amassed five deflections to go with his four steals in Denver’s seventh consecutive win against the Warriors. As of the 56-game mark, he was tied for eighth in the league with 2.9 per game (as many as the absurdly wingspanned Victor Wembanyama). “That speaks to activity, that speaks to a physicality, that speaks to being in that right place in the right time,” said Malone. Disrupting the pocket pass is a facet of Jokic’s innate understanding of pick-and-roll angles, the same understanding that makes his two-man game with Jamal Murray so brilliant at the other end of the floor.

    It’s not Murray he’s generally teaming up with to defend the pick-and-roll, though. It’s Caldwell-Pope, who’s regularly charged with premier backcourt matchups. The experienced Caldwell-Pope is one of the best guards in the league at navigating screens. But the Nuggets have minimal off-day practice time during the season to refine two-man defensive chemistry, and Jokic and Caldwell-Pope haven’t been playing their entire careers together. So, says Caldwell-Pope, it’s a matter of “learn on the go.”

    “I feel like with Jok, in a pick-and-roll with him defensively, I know he’s gonna be up,” he said. “I know he has great hands, just like I have great hands. He’s gonna try to go for the steal as well. So just us two, being in that action, it helps me out a lot. It helps him just to get back to his man and helps me stay as close as possible to my man. That’s our game plan, him being up. And it’s good for our team, for him to be up.”

    Caldwell-Pope added that his individual emphasis, to hound the ball-handler through the screen while Jokic also stays up, is made easier by Jokic dropping marginally behind him and being able to see other aspects of the play unfolding. “He reads plays faster than I can sometimes,” the former Laker said.

    “That’s him, to be honest,” Jokic retorted of his chemistry with Caldwell-Pope. “I’m just there to not mess up. He’s a really good defender, and I’m there to just, try to help him a little bit. As much as I can. But it’s mostly him.”

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    Bennett Durando

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  • Bill Walton is becoming Nikola Jokic’s biggest fan, and he’s tired of reductive superlatives: “One of the greatest basketball players ever”

    Bill Walton is becoming Nikola Jokic’s biggest fan, and he’s tired of reductive superlatives: “One of the greatest basketball players ever”

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    PORTLAND, Ore. — Nikola Jokic was in a rush to leave the building last Sunday after his sixth All-Star Game. His abbreviated version of a break was finally about to begin. But he made time for one of his biggest fans.

    In the hallways beneath Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Jokic stopped to dap up Hall of Famer Bill Walton. The day before, during a public practice, Walton had sought out Jokic on the sideline to chat. Their interactions at All-Star weekend are becoming something of an annual tradition by now.

    “Big man to big man,” Jokic said.

    What does the 71-year-old Walton tell the Nuggets big man?

    The same stuff he eagerly tells everyone else who’ll listen.

    “His celebration of life through basketball, his focus on the team … he’s better than perfect. He’s Nikola Jokic,” Walton told The Denver Post. “He’s the best player in the world. I watch a lot of Denver Nuggets basketball, and every time I watch, I just get a smile on my face. It’s fantastic.”

    Walton, a winner of two championships and an MVP during his celebrated but injury-shortened career, has long remained a fixture of the college and professional basketball communities. He is famous for his out-there analogies and asides while providing enthusiastic color commentary of Pac-12 games for ESPN, but he is especially moved by Jokic — so much that he’s practically a spokesman for the Serbian center. In the last year, he has raved about Jokic everywhere from The Pat McAfee Show to The New Yorker.

    The admiration runs so deep that Walton needs to share it with Jokic directly, whenever possible. Whenever they’re face-to-face.

    “Joy and happiness. And hope. And optimism. And purpose,” Walton said. “He plays with purpose. He plays to win the games. And he does it with beautiful style, grace, dignity, professionalism. Nikola Jokic represents the conquest of substance over hype.”

    “He just told me (his) appreciation. Nice things about me,” Jokic told The Post. “I really appreciate it. Just a nice thing when a legend can talk to you. I think it’s amazing.”

    As minor as their interactions might be, they’re also a window into a side of Jokic that is seldom highlighted: his respect for NBA history, particularly the Hall of Famers who dominated at the center position in the generations before him. Over the years, he has developed a mutually appreciative on-air relationship with Shaquille O’Neal, who attempts to say something in Serbian every time Jokic joins TNT’s Inside the NBA for a postgame interview.

    Jokic has also grown increasingly introspective about his All-Star appearances. He said after making the team this season, “I will say to the guys in the locker room when I go there, it’s always a pleasure to be around them, in that group of people. It’s an honor and a legacy that me or the guys over there are going to appreciate when we’ve finished (our) career.”

    Speaking of legacy: There’s a point Walton wants to make about Jokic’s.

    Presented with the common notion that Jokic is one of the greatest passing big men of all time, Walton scoffed.

    “He’s one of the great basketball players ever,” he said. “It’s a disservice to (Jokic) to limit him. He’s an incredible scorer. He’s a fantastic rebounder. He’s an incredible passer. He’s an incredible teammate. He has it all. Don’t try to limit him. Don’t try to box him in. Because with Nikola Jokic, there are no limits.”

    Jokic emerged from his break (or lack thereof) by earning triple-doubles by the end of the third quarter in back-to-back games. He has shot 81.5% from the field in consecutive wins (including one over Walton’s Trail Blazers), averaging 25 points, 17 rebounds and 14.5 assists. He’s up to 122 career triple-doubles entering Sunday’s clash with Golden State.

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    Bennett Durando

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  • Michael Porter Jr. scores season-high 34 as Nuggets cruise past Trail Blazers

    Michael Porter Jr. scores season-high 34 as Nuggets cruise past Trail Blazers

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    PORTLAND, Ore. — Written on the locker room whiteboard Thursday night at Ball Arena was a summons for players to get to the Denver airport by 10:20 p.m. for their team flight to Oregon. It was an unrealistic goal, especially considering Nikola Jokic’s typically methodical postgame process and media obligation.

    So maybe the Nuggets were a little late to take off. They made it to Portland just fine.

    And after a slightly slow start at Moda Center the next night, the defending champions took off and earned a 127-112 win over the Blazers, sweeping a back-to-back out of the All-Star break. Michael Malone called a timeout after three early turnovers yielded an 8-3 deficit. Then Denver cruised.

    The Nuggets (38-19) gave Jamal Murray the night off to avoid straining him in the back-to-back after he went into the break dealing with shin splints. His absence was more for precautionary reasons after an encouraging performance against the Wizards and before a marquee matchup Sunday at the Warriors. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, on the other hand, played after missing the second half of Thursday’s game with a sprained finger.

    Without Murray, Nikola Jokic posted a triple-double by the end of the third quarter for the second time in 24 hours, and Michael Porter Jr. scored a season-high 34 points on 21 shots to go with a dozen rebounds.

    “I was just getting easy shots. My teammates were finding me in transition,” Porter said. “When a player like ‘Mal is out, a lot of guys have gotta step up.”

    “Michael is such a big target, and (defenders) play on the high side, so they’re trying to make him a 2-point scorer,” Malone said. “And he’s shown that he can do that just as efficiently (as scoring from three). This was a night when Michael played at a high level throughout the course of the game.”

    Jokic finished the night with 29 points, 15 boards and 14 assists on 12-of-17 shooting. With 2:37 remaining in the first half, he missed his first shot in 15 attempts since the break. Aaron Gordon also supplied another efficient and well-rounded game, going for eight points on 4-of-5 shooting (all in the first half) and seven assists.

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    Bennett Durando

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  • Nikola Jokic on NBA’s 65-game rule after Joel Embiid injury: “It forces players to play, even if they’re injured”

    Nikola Jokic on NBA’s 65-game rule after Joel Embiid injury: “It forces players to play, even if they’re injured”

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    INDIANAPOLIS — No matter how many All-Stars the NBA filed into a packed room Saturday to talk over one another in simultaneous news conferences, a silence reverberated loudest. Loud enough to be heard in at least a few of the questions.

    The most significant absence in Indianapolis this weekend is the one that’s shaking up the 2023-24 MVP race.

    Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid was the presumptive favorite until early February when he underwent surgery to repair his lateral meniscus. The left knee injury has rendered him ineligible to repeat as league MVP under new NBA policy, which requires players to appear in a minimum of 65 games to be considered for end-of-year awards such as MVP and All-NBA.

    The procedure will sideline Embiid long enough that he almost definitively wouldn’t have won MVP even without the new rule. However, his situation has still sparked debate in league circles about whether or not the 65-game minimum should have been instituted in the first place. Why? Because there was wide speculation Embiid felt pressured to play through a pre-existing knee injury in order to maintain awards eligibility, especially after getting ridiculed for missing his fourth consecutive road game against the Nuggets — and MVP adversary Nikola Jokic — in late January.

    Two games later, Embiid was back in the lineup when Golden State’s Jonathan Kuminga fell on his leg and caused the injury that required surgery.

    Jokic is perversely positioned to benefit from Embiid’s unfortunate situation. The Nuggets center is the new betting favorite to win his third MVP in the last four years. But he takes no joy in that. He was asked about the 65-game rule Saturday during his media session at All-Star weekend.

    “Definitely forcing players to play, even when they’re injured or whatever,” Jokic said. “But we saw what happened with Joel. … I don’t know. I just don’t like it, how it forces players to play even if they’re injured, if they want to achieve something.”

    Arguments against the rule largely depend on the arbitrary nature of the league’s chosen number. No data-driven evidence was provided to explain why 65 makes more sense as a games-played minimum than, say, 67 — one more than the number of games Embiid played last year when he won MVP. In 2022-23, Jokic finished second in voting with 69 games played. Giannis Antetokounmpo was third with 63.

    With the door wide open now, Jokic’s biggest challenger for the 2023-24 crown is his All-Star teammate, Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

    The Thunder guard, who ranks second in the league in scoring (31.1 points) and first in steals (2.2), wasn’t as quick to condemn the rule as Jokic was.

    “I’m not too sure. I think no matter what, there’s like a fine line,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Like, when it comes down to it, there’s always a fine line in games played and availability. And I think the league has the right intention in trying to make that line a little bit bolder and easier to make a decision. Now, I try to be as available as I can every night, not only for that but just for the love of the game. But as far as how the rule goes, I don’t really have an opinion. I’m gonna try to be available for my team to win basketball games every night, and if I can’t be available, then I just can’t, and it is what it is.”

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    Bennett Durando

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  • NBA trade deadline winners, losers: Did rest of league catch up with Denver Nuggets?

    NBA trade deadline winners, losers: Did rest of league catch up with Denver Nuggets?

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    While the Nuggets didn’t change their 18-man roster at the 2024 NBA trade deadline, other contenders around the league made a variety of moves — mostly on the margins — in an effort to steal the throne from Denver.

    From the view at altitude, here are the winners and losers of the deadline:

    Winner: New York Knicks

    The leader of every other winners-and-losers think-piece is the leader of this one, too. New York landed Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks on deadline day at relatively low cost, but the Nuggets already got a close-up view of the new Knicks when O.G. Anunoby registered six steals against them at MSG. With Milwaukee reeling and Philadelphia hedging after Joel Embiid’s injury (Buddy Hield was a solid middle-ground acquisition), New York suddenly transformed into the most proactive win-now team in the East this deadline.

    Loser: Dallas Mavericks

    In arguably the highest-profile trade on actual deadline day, Dallas overpaid for P.J. Washington, whose 13.6 points per game felt somewhat like empty calories in Charlotte. The trade was simultaneously an admission of failure in the Grant Williams Experiment and a brand-new roll of the dice. More importantly, the Mavericks did what the Knicks avoided: They traded a precious first-round pick (2027). Future: mortgaged. Draft assets are close to extinct now for Dallas, a franchise throwing darts at the wall and hoping one will stick before it’s too late to salvage and extend the Luka Doncic era.

    Winner: Boston Celtics

    Is Xavier Tillman going to be a significant role player in Joe Mazzulla’s playoff rotation? Probably not. Will the Celtics feel a lot more comfortable having an affordable, playable backup big ready to aid the injury-prone Kristaps Porzingis and aging Al Horford? Absolutely. Especially if they’re dealing with six or seven games of Nikola Jokic. This was a depth move that felt tailored to fit a Nuggets NBA Finals matchup, but it cost Boston only two second-round picks to add a salary under $2 million.

    Loser: Oklahoma City Thunder

    The Thunder should have done what Boston did. Don’t get me wrong: Gordon Hayward seems like an outstanding veteran addition to a young team. A lot of teams would have pursued him if Charlotte had bought out his contract. But Oklahoma City’s biggest need still hasn’t been addressed. Back in October, I asked Michael Porter Jr. for his first impressions of Chet Holmgren after Denver won in OKC. “I think he’s very, very talented,” Porter said. “To me, he’s more of a four.” Holmgren, who has an even more injury-prone body type than Porzingis and already missed all of last season, is the Thunder’s starting five. Sophomore charge-taking specialist Jaylin Williams (6-foot-9) backs him up. The center position runs dry from there. For a team so small and with a rebounding weakness (No. 27 in the league), it seems neglectful not to dip into a horde of 10,000 picks and add a more traditional five to at least deploy in bench lineups. Without reinforcements, Holmgren is susceptible to getting worn down by Jokic in a long series.

    Winner: Monte Morris

    Congratulations to one former Nuggets backup point guard, who moved from the league’s most puzzling team (Detroit) to a Western Conference title contender. Smart trade for the Timberwolves, who needed more offense to support their top-rated defense. Minnesota’s two most common lineups involving point guard Mike Conley have net ratings of 9.6 and 7.6, respectively, in 635 combined minutes. The most common lineup without Conley on the floor is a minus-5.1 in 127 minutes (a lineup including Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns), and second-most common without Conley is a modest 4.9 in 100 minutes (using all four starters except him). Morris supplies 3-point shooting and an upgrade in turnover prevention for an offense that’s third-worst in the NBA at protecting the ball in clutch time.

    Loser: Bruce Brown

    Pour one out for a different former Nuggets backup point guard. Brown did the Reverse Morris three weeks ago, getting traded from a young playoff-caliber core in Indianapolis to a losing team. But the league-wide expectation was that Toronto would flip Brown. There was a market for his versatility and recent championship experience. So he waited and waited, until the deadline passed Thursday, leaving him temporarily stranded in Canada. Brown was just one bullet point on a list of head-scratching decisions by the Raptors, also including their forfeiture of a 2024 first-round pick among other assets for Kelly Olynyk and Ochai Agbaji.

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    Bennett Durando

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  • Nets lose 5th straight to Nuggets, but bench play deserves praise

    Nets lose 5th straight to Nuggets, but bench play deserves praise

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    The Nets‘ starting five came out flat against the Denver Nuggets on Friday at Barclays Center, as they did in Wednesday’s loss to the Knicks. Brooklyn was on pace for its third consecutive blowout loss as well, until head coach Jacque Vaughn made his first pair substitutions of the game with 6:17 left in the first quarter.

    Trailing Denver 18-7, Cam Thomas and Nic Claxton went out, Dorian Finney-Smith and Day’Ron Sharpe came in. The Nets immediately went on a 12-4 run and their energy and execution improved almost instantly. Dennis Smith Jr., back from a seven-game absence, and Royce O’Neale checked in about two minutes later and the vibes remained immaculate.

    Closing the first quarter with a lineup comprising mostly reserves, all of the sudden the game was tied at 28 entering the second.

    The tremendous impact of Finney-Smith, Sharpe, Smith and O’Neale off the bench in Friday’s 122-117 loss can be summed up to a single sequence. With 11:27 left in the first half, Smith drove to the basket, drew two defenders then dished it off to Claxton — who finished with a game-high 16 rebounds — for an easy dunk. Smith forced a turnover moments later and tossed it up the floor to O’Neale, who then found Finney-Smith in the left corner for a 3-pointer that gave the Nets a 33-28 lead.

    While it still was not enough to avoid a fifth straight loss — and second to the defending NBA champions in nine days — the effort of Brooklyn’s reserves will give Vaughn plenty to think about tonight ahead of Saturday’s game against the Detroit Pistons.

    Finney-Smith, Sharpe, Smith and O’Neale combined for 47 points on 16-of-30 shooting with 13 assists and two turnovers in the loss. All four reserves who played finished positive in plus/minus while all five starters were negative. Finney-Smith, who went 4-of-5 from deep, was a team-best plus-13 in 30 minutes.

    Sharpe, a plus-2 in 19 minutes off the bench, recorded his fourth double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Smith was plus-9 in 19 minutes and O’Neale was plus-7 in 22 minutes.

    The Nets’ reserves outscored Denver’s 47-23. And as Vaughn continues to chew over how he wants minutes distributed, while taking the team’s recent slow starts into account, perhaps more opportunities will be given to the guys who play with great energy from the opening tap going forward. Because tonight it was the reserves who set the tone.

    Brooklyn will face the struggling Detroit Pistons twice in the next four days.

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    CJ Holmes

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  • Nuggets’ Jokic has career-high 27 rebounds in triple-double

    Nuggets’ Jokic has career-high 27 rebounds in triple-double

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    DENVER — Nikola Jokic had 40 points and a career-high 27 rebounds in yet another triple-double to help the Denver Nuggets beat the Charlotte Hornets 119-115 on Sunday night.

    Jokic also had 10 assists for his fifth triple-double of the season and 81st overall. He had 20 rebounds in the first half.

    Wilt Chamberlain is the only other player with at least 40 points, 27 rebounds and 10 assists in an NBA game. He did it four times, the last when he had 53 points, 32 rebounds and 14 assists for Philadelphia on March 18, 1968.

    Jokic sealed the victory with two free throws with 13 seconds left.

    Kentavious Caldwell-Pope added 20 points and Aaron Gordon had 19 as the Nuggets sent the Hornets to their eighth consecutive loss.

    LaMelo Ball had 31 points for Charlotte. Kelly Oubre Jr. added 16 points and Gordon Hayward had 15.

    Up by three at the half, Denver stretched its lead to 94-80 going into the fourth quarter, fueled by Jokic’s 11-point third period.

    Charlotte fought back, though, getting to 107-104 on Ball’s fadeaway jumper with 3:29 remaining. The Nuggets regained a cushion when Gordon went in for a reverse layup off a feed from Jokic before Jokic put in a hook shot on the Nuggets’ ensuing possession for a 111-104 lead with 1:57 remaining.

    Jokic completed the triple-double with a pass setting up Bruce Brown’s 3-pointer that gave Denver an eight-point advantage with 1:20 left.

    But again Charlotte got back within two on a dunk by Washington before Jokic hit a pair of free throws and Charlotte could not get a shot off in the final moments after turning the ball over.

    SMALL CLUB

    Others have come close, but not matched the 40-27-10 stat line. Elgin Baylor had 52 points, 25 rebounds and 10 assists on Dec. 13, 1961. DeMarcus Cousins had 44 points, 23 rebounds and 10 assists on Jan. 22, 2018. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had a 44-point, 20-rebound, 11-assist game on Feb. 26, 1972, and Oscar Robinson finished with 42 points, 21 rebounds and 10 assists in a game on Jan. 9, 1965.

    TIP-INS

    Nuggets: F Michael Porter missed a 12th straight game with a left heel strain but has made steady progress in his rehabilitation and is nearing a return, coach Michael Malone said. “He’s been doing more and more with the training staff,” Malone said. “Maybe there’s a chance in the next week to 10 days we can try to get him back and work him back into that rotation. We miss Michael Porter. He’s a big part of what we’re trying to do here.”

    UP NEXT

    Hornets: Continue six-game trip Monday night at Sacramento.

    Nuggets: Host Memphis on Tuesday night.

    ———

    More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

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  • Heat snap Blazers four-game winning streak with 119-98 win

    Heat snap Blazers four-game winning streak with 119-98 win

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    PORTLAND, Ore. — Bam Adebayo scored 18 points and the Miami Heat snapped Portland’s four-game winning streak with a 119-98 victory on Wednesday night.

    Damian Lillard had 22 points for Portland when he came up limping with just over five minutes to go in the third quarter and headed straight for the locker room. He did not return and the Blazers later announced he had a right calf strain.

    Lillard, a six-time All-Star, said he felt tightness in his calf before the game. While he is not likely to play Friday when the Blazers host the Rockets, he does not expect to miss any more games.

    “I mean honestly, if this was a playoff game I would have played,” Lillard said.

    Kyle Lowry and Jimmy Butler each had 17 points for the Heat, who led by as many as 26 points. Six Miami players were in double figures.

    “Before the game we were locked in,” Butler said. “That’s how we win, that’s the winning formula. It feels good.”

    Rookie Shaedon Sharpe had 15 points and eight rebounds for Portland, which had won each of its first four games to open the season for the first time since 1999. The Blazers were the last remaining undefeated team in the Western Conference.

    It was a close first half. Jerami Grant hit a 3-pointer to give the Blazers a 44-36 lead, but Tyler Herro answered with a 3 for Miami.

    Herro made a running jumper then added a free throw to put Miami in front 52-51, and the Heat went on to lead 61-56 at the half. Herro finished with 14 points.

    The Heat went up 81-70 on Butler’s dunk midway through the third quarter. Without Lillard, the Blazers struggled offensively the rest of the way.

    “The turnovers at that time really killed us, and then they got out on the break and started getting a whole bunch of transition threes, and they opened up the lead at that point,” Blazers guard Anfernee Simons. “So I think it was just a little bit of us being careless with the basketball.”

    Miami made a season-high 15 3-pointers in the game.

    “We put it together on both ends,” Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We’ve been doing some better things. In the last two games you’ve seen our energy level go up.”

    Portland was coming off a 135-110 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Monday night. Anfernee Simons had 22 points, including six 3-pointers, in the third quarter to pull away, and Portland held Nikola Jokic to nine points.

    TIP INS

    Heat: Caleb Martin and Nikola Jovic returned after a one-game suspension by the league for their roles in a scuffle with the Raptors on Saturday night. … It was the first of a three-game Western road trip for the Heat. The Heat were without Omer Yurtseven (ankle) and Victor Oladipo (knee), both of whom haven’t played this season.

    Trail Blazers: Justise Winslow was available for the Blazers after sitting out of Monday’s game against the Nuggets with a sore ankle. … Simons finished with 14 points.

    UP NEXT

    Heat: Miami visits Golden State on Thursday.

    Trail Blazers: Portland hosts Houston on Friday.

    ———

    More AP NBA coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

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