New Orleans Pelicans @ Denver Nuggets
Monday, November 6, 2023 at 9:00 PM ET
Ball Arena, Denver, CO | Game ID: 22300156
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
DEN 25 34 40 35 134NOP 27 44 21 24 116
ESPN UpdateESPN Update
Jokic's 108th triple-double rallies Nuggets past Pelicans, 134-116.
DENVER -- — Nikola Jokic notched his 108th triple-double with 35 points, 14 rebounds and 12 assists, and the Denver Nuggets overcame a 20-point, first-half deficit to beat the New Orleans Pelicans 134-116 on Monday night.
Jokic broke a tie with LeBron James and Jason Kidd to move into fourth place in triple-doubles. He trails Magic Johnson by 30 for third.
Denver rookie Julian Strawther scored a career-high 21 points off the bench to help overcome the absence of Jamal Murray , who will miss several games with a right hamstring injury.
“His injury is not one- or two-game injury,” coach Michael Malone said. “That’s what I do know. This is something that will be longer than we would like.”
Strawther scored just 20 points in five games and had been used mostly in garbage time before being thrust into meaningful minutes Monday. He responded by hitting 5 of 9 of his 3-point attempts.
“It’s one of those things to stay ready,” Strawther said. “You know there’s minutes up for grabs, we don’t know where they were going to go.”
He scored 12 of his points in just 5 minutes, 31 seconds, in the fourth quarter.
“After the first two go in it’s like, ‘How many can you make?’” Strawther said. “There are a bunch of guys on this team that have that kind of mentality. They see the ball go in and it’s over after that.”
Michael Porter Jr . had 22 points and nine rebounds, while Aaron Gordon finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds for the Nuggets.
New Orleans rookie Jordan Hawkins , starting for CJ McCollum , set a career best with 31 points on 7-for-14 shooting from 3-point range. Zion Williamson added 20 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists, and Brandon Ingram had 22 points for the Pelicans.
“He’s fearless,” Pelicans coach Willie Green said of Hawkins. “When he’s open he’s going to shoot it. He’s aggressive and the beauty of it is Brandon, Z, all of his teammates are looking for him.”
McCollum was ruled out Sunday after an MRI revealed he had suffered a collapsed lung and will likely miss multiple games.
“We do not think it is too bad, but we have to run more tests and see where we are after,” Green said.
The Pelicans, on the strength of shooting 10 of 17 from 3-point range, led 61-41 late in the second period but were outscored 46-19 spanning the second and third quarters. Denver led 90-82 after Jokic fed Collin Gillespie on a 3-pointer to give the two-time MVP the triple-double.
“We know who we are, we know what we’re capable of,” said Nuggets guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope , who finished with 15 points. “We just turned it up in the third quarter and got the lead back.”
It was a six-point lead after Hawkins made a 3-pointer midway through the fourth period, but Strawther scored five points and Gordon dunked to give Denver a 113-100 lead. New Orleans cut it to seven, but Jokic sealed the win when he fed Porter on an alley-oop to make it 121-108.
UP NEXT
Pelicans: Continue their three-game road at Minnesota on Wednesday night.
Who is who
the initials in the Players column
NOPBI B. Ingram
CZ C. Zeller
DD D. Daniels
HJ H. Jones
JH J. Hawkins
JV J. Valančiūnas
KL K. Lewis Jr.
LN L. Nance Jr.
MR M. Ryan
VA Valanciunas
ZW Z. Williamson
DENAG A. Gordon
CB C. Braun
CG C. Gillespie
JP J. Pickett
JS J. Strawther
JO Jokic
KC K. Caldwell-Pope
MP M. Porter Jr.
NJ N. Jokić
PW P. Watson
RJ R. Jackson
ZN Z. Nnaji
NOP/DEN the team itself, not a player
-- the feed named nobody
What
What happened
the codes in the Events column
M2 / M3 made 2 / made 3
X2 / X3 missed 2 / missed 3
FT / X1 free throw made / missed
AST assist
OR / DR offensive / defensive rebound
STL steal
BLK block
TO turnover
FL foul
OF offensive foul — ends the possession
VIOL violation
JUMP jump ball
TM timeout
IR instant replay
HE heave at the buzzer, filed to the team
Where
Where a shot came from
the middle field of M3.LW.25
RM at the rim inside 4 ft
RC right corner
RW right wing
SO straight on
LW left wing
LC left corner
M3.LW.25 made 3, left wing, 25 ft
X2.RM.01 missed 2, at the rim, 1 ft
When
When it happened
the Offset column
one number per event, in the Events order:
whole seconds from the start of the
possession to that event
Events FL X3.RC.23 OR M2.RM.01
Offset 0 18 22 24
the foul opens the possession at 0s;
the putback ends it at 24s, which is
the possession's own Dur