Recap: Denver at Miami
By Mathew Huff
Denver was able to finally win a close game on the road.
The Denver Nuggets were able to snap a three game win streak on the road in impressive fashion. After falling out of the eight seed, the Nuggets showed they still have some fight left in them thanks to some clutch three point shooting.
Nikola Jokic had yet another great performance posting 19 points, 10 rebounds, and seven assists. Gallinari finally regained form as had a game high 29 points to go along with some timely buckets and had a box plus/minus of +12.
Denver Nuggets
The real story was that there was an Emmanuel Mudiay sighting. The cherry on top of that was that he was massively productive for the Nuggets. He took advantage of Nelson’s absence putting up 17 points and nine assists. What was really key for him was that he had no turnovers. A promising sign for the Denver Nuggets. He was even efficient shooting 44.4% from the field and a nice 90% from the free throw line. I know 44.4% is not exactly stellar, but it isn’t terrible either. Especially when you take into account he was coming off a string of DNP’s.
Another aspect of this matchup that was overlooked is how Denver kept Hassan Whiteside relatively in check. Despite Jokic’s defensive weaknesses, he actually held his own against the Heat big man. Whiteside still got a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds. At the end of the night though, it was clear that Jokic won the matchup as Whiteside did not have near the impact for his team like Nikola did.
Goran Dragic was the high point man for Miami with 22 points and six assists. Even with his heroic effort though, the Heat still were not able to win in a very competitive game. Other than Dragic, the Nuggets were able to keep the other players for Miami relatively silent. As a result, Denver was able to keep their playoff hopes alive with a three point win.
Must Read: Player Grades From Miami
You could feel the blood pressure of many Nuggets fans skyrocketing in this game, but it was all okay in the end. The Nuggets are still holding on to a shred of hope for their post season dreams.