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.”
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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.
The nine also consisted of Julian Strawther, DaRon Holmes II and Curtis Jones. Others who contributed behind the scenes will also tell the story of this game, though. The team security guard who ran down the back hallway, ecstatic. The starters who sat out and cheered from the bench, including Aaron Gordon, who sat at his locker room stall perusing the box score afterward with a proud smile. The player development coaches who work closely with Denver’s reserves. As two of them walked through an empty arena toward the team bus, one declared, “Shoutout PD,” lifting the Modelo can he was carrying in a toast to themselves.
When Nnaji tells the story, he’ll always return to Pickett’s deadeye shooting. “There were a couple of times Pick hit a step-back on Embiid, and I just go crazy whenever he hits one of those,” Nnaji said.
Pickett will tell that story, too. His children and grandchildren will hear that one.
“Oh my gosh,” he said, perhaps still in some disbelief. “I’m gonna tell ‘em I was giving MVPs buckets out there.”
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Bennett Durando
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