Recap: Nuggets survive on the road in Charlotte

The Nuggets comeback in the second half to avoid an ugly loss

The Denver Nuggets (39-18, 13-14 away) win on the road against the Charlotte Hornets (15-43, 7-18 home) 119-105. The Nuggets severely struggled in the first half, but they ultimately outscored the Hornets 62-45 in the second half. As well as out scoring Charlotte 37-23 in the third quarter alone. Denver snaps their 4-game road losing streak and the Hornets now 7-game losing streak continues.

Nikola Jokić led the Nuggets with his 20th triple-double of the season, he finished with 30 points, 16 rebounds, and 10 assists. Michael Porter Jr finished with 14 points, all of those coming in the second half. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope knocked down 15 points of his own too. Gordon Hayward scored 13 points in the first quarter, finishing with 21 points.

First Quarter:

The Hornets win the tip-off and Terry Rozier scores on their first possession. Following KCP and MPJ misses, LaMelo Ball connects on a three-pointer. Hornets open up the game on a 7-0 run. Jokić scores the Nuggets first points of the game, but then the Nuggets give up another 6-0 run and Coach Malone calls a timeout. A real rough start for Denver, down 13-2 just about 3 minutes into the game. Jokić scores the next Denver basket after the rest of the team shoots 0-10 to start the game. Gordon Hayward scores 7 straight points for the Hornets and Charlotte jumps out to a 14 point lead. Ish Smith checks into the game and immediately throws a nice dish to Vlatko Cancar, forcing a Hornets timeout.

Jokić, once again, breaks a Nuggets scoring draught with a layup at the rim. On the next possession the Joker repeats with another layup, then Bruce Brown knocks down a timely three and Christian Braun throws down a dunk to force another Charlotte timeout. Jokić checks out and DeAndre Jordan comes in, Braun grabs a steal off of a free throw and gets fouled himself after. Ish Smith misses a mid-range and Braun gets an offensive tip-in, Nuggets end the quarter down 34-27. Not bad for being down by 14 points only 7 minutes into the game.

Second Quarter:

Ish Smith throws a lob to DeAndre Jordan to start the quarter off. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope knocks down back-to-back off dribble jumpers, the deficit decreases to only 3. But, Denver gives up a 9-2 run after, ending in KCP getting T’d up. The Nuggets continue their dreadful three-point shooting, opening the game shooting 1/9 (11%). The Nuggets just cannot find their groove on the offensive side of the ball, not scoring for just about 3 minutes of game-time. Jeff Green and Christian Braun score 6 points on off-ball cuts, but, Denver goes quiet offensively following the layups. LaMelo Ball knocks down back-to-back three-pointers pushing the Hornets to 7/11 shooting in the second quarter, while Denver sits at 6/17.

Jokić knocks down two pairs of free-throws and pushes the Nuggets on a 12-0 run. All 12 of those points have been in the paint as well. The Nuggets close the deficit to 2 points, but the Hornets score 4 straight in response. Denver forced 6 Hornets turnovers in the 2nd quarter alone. Cancar nails a three and drains the Hornets lead to just 3. 60-57, Hornets up, at halftime.

Third Quarter:

Jokić opens the second half by grabbing his own offensive rebound for a put-back. MPJ throws down a dunk for his first points of the game, Jokić and Bruce Brown knock down layups to take a 3 point lead. The Nuggets come out of halftime and go on a 12-2 run, taking a 7 point lead. The Nuggets appear to be emphasizing movement offensively after halftime, all but 2 of Denver’s shots have been cutting layups or dunks.

Bruce Brown knocks down his second three of the game, Denver’s third. The Nuggets go on another 8-0 run that is capped off by a Rozier three. Jokić gets two tough layups to go and MPJ nails a three to increase Denver’s lead to 14. Braun enters the game and finishes a nice up-and-under layup in a two man action with Jokić. The Nuggets outscored the Hornets 37-23 in the third quarter, also putting up 11 assists to only 1 turnover. Denver ends the quarter up by 11, 94-83.

Fourth Quarter:

PJ Washington opens the quarter with a hook shot for the Hornets. Ish Smith picks up a charge to kick things off for Denver. Jeff Green picks up a tech of his own after arguing a call and then Ish Smith picks up his second charge of the quarter. Ish finds DeAndre Jordan for an easy dunk on the next possession. Jordan picks up 2 straight dunks for the Nuggets and then checks out for Jokić.

Braun rips a steal and pushes the Nuggets lead to 16, their biggest of the game. Jeff Green grabs a steal that leads to a Bruce Brown dunk, but then Green picks up a transition take foul. Jokić connects with MPJ for a corner three, he now has his 20th triple-double of the season. His 20th is now the Nuggets new franchise record for triple-doubles. Following his triple-double, Jokić checks out for Thomas Bryant. Bryant makes his Nuggets debut with the game firmly put away. Bryant doesn’t do much in his time but he puts in 100% effort till the final buzzer.

What’s Next?:

The Denver Nuggets (39-18) will take on the Miami Heat (31-25) on Monday, February 13th. The game is at 5:30 pm (mst) and is in Miami.