Denver Nuggets @ New Orleans Pelicans
Friday, November 17, 2023 at 8:00 PM ET
Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, LA | Game ID: 22300034
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
NOP 36 33 26 20 115DEN 28 25 33 24 110
ESPN UpdateESPN Update
Williamson and Ingram come through late to lift Pelicans past Nuggets 115-110
NEW ORLEANS -- — New Orleans stars Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram helped put Denver in a 20-point hole and also came through in the final minutes to stop Nikola Jokic and Co. from climbing all the way back.
Williamson scored 26 points, Ingram had 21 and the Pelicans held on for a 115-110 victory over the Nuggets on Friday night after Denver had pulled within a single point with 4:01 to play.
“We understand who we're playing,” Ingram said of the defending NBA champions. "We didn't want it to get all the way to that point, but we had to stay poised."
Williamson and Ingram each scored twice during a late 8-0 run and the Pelicans held on after Kentavious Caldwell-Pope , Reggie Jackson and Aaron Gordon each missed 3-point shots for a tie game during the same possession in the final 30 seconds.
The ball went out of bounds off Denver with 15 seconds left after Gordon's miss, and Herb Jones hit two free throws for New Orleans after being fouled on an inbound pass with 13.5 seconds remaining.
“Me and B.I. definitely got it going when we needed to,” Williamson said. “The more that we are on the court together, the better we get.”
Jonas Valanciunas scored 22 to help New Orleans win its second straight NBA In-Season Tournament game, improving the Pelicans' record in West Group B to 2-1 and leaving Denver with the same mark. New Orleans could have a chance to win its bracket against the Clippers in Los Angeles on Nov. 24.
Williamson said the Pelicans were pleased to have kept themselves in the running to advance and possibly even go on to win the $500,000-per-player prize that goes to the tournament champions.
“That's something that you can give to family members or whatever you plan on doing with it. I think that's good motivation," Williamson said. “But also, for us, we haven't won nothing. So, I think that would be like a starter step for us, trying to go and win that.”
Nikola Jokic had 26 points, tied a career high with 18 assists and grabbed 16 rebounds for the Nuggets, who never led in the game. Christian Braun scored 24 points and Michael Porter Jr . added 18 points and 11 rebounds.
New Orleans led by as many as 20 points when Ingram's back-to-back 3s made it 82-62 in the middle of the third quarter.
But the Nuggets responded with three straight 3s — one each by Braun, Jokic and Caldwell-Pope — and trailed 95-86 after three periods.
“My main theme of this game is that we cannot build ourselves a hole like that, knowing that we are going to get the best of everybody,” Nuggets coach Mike Malone said. “Everybody wants to beat the defending champions.”
“I really applauded the effort in the second half,” Malone added. “I just want that to be closer to 48 minutes, if possible.”
Denver remained within single digits throughout the fourth and pulled to 103-102 when Braun scored on a putback and a layup on successive possessions.
That's when Williamson and Ingram took over, starting with the latter's mid-range jumper. Williamson followed with a finger roll and then a floater while being fouled to make it 109-102. Williamson missed the free throw, but Dyson Daniels rebounded and New Orleans swung the ball to Ingram for another mid-range jumper to make it 111-102 with 1:50 to go.
Naji Marshall scored 12 points on four 3s for New Orleans, and Daniels finished with 10. Gordon and Jackson each scored 14 for Denver.
Who is who
the initials in the Players column
DENAG A. Gordon
CB C. Braun
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
NOPBI B. Ingram
CZ C. Zeller
DD D. Daniels
HJ H. Jones
JH J. Hawkins
JV J. Valančiūnas
MR M. Ryan
NM N. Marshall
VA Valanciunas
ZW Z. Williamson
DEN/NOP 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