Denver Nuggets vs New Orleans Pelicans: Player of the game

Denver Nuggets vs New Orleans Pelicans: Player of the game.

Denver Nuggets Players Come Out To Play

The Denver Nuggets players gave a good account of themselves last night, result notwithstanding. With MVP candidate Anthony Davis playing, a few Denver Nuggets players raised their games to take on the challenge of playing against one of the very best talents in the NBA. Despite a 40 point explosion from AD, the Denver Nuggets only lost by ten points.

Moreover, as we point out in our main takeaways from the game, the Denver Nuggets were capable of winning last night’s game. Even with the said 40 point explosion from AD. In short, the Denver Nuggets are a team with more potential than most other teams in the NBA.

Nikola Jokic

Last night, Nikola Jokic, led the Denver Nuggets from the front. Scoring a career-high (for a 1st quarter) of 18 points.

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Unfortunately for Jokic, he had an unexpected fall when trying to quickly inbound the ball for the Nuggets. After that fall Jokic was never quite the same. Going on to only score a further 7 points the rest of the game.

However sore thigh notwithstanding, Nikola came close to having another triple double putting up 25 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists in 34 minutes of play.

However, Nikola Jokic certainly had help last night. One of Nikola’s primary sources of that help was none other than Gary Harris.

Gary Harris

Nuggets fans everywhere must have really enjoyed seeing Gary Harris have a strong game. Although Gary Harris has struggled from 3 this season, you would never have known that from his performance last night!

Gary Harris shot a blistering 66% (6 of 9) from 3 point land.
One of the 3’s Gary hit was extremely deep and was about as much of a statement as this dunk from Mason Plumlee.

However, there was a lot more to Gary Harris’ game last night than just 3 pointers. Harris was also 9 of 16 from the field played a team high 39 minutes, grabbed 5 rebounds and had 4 assists.
Moreover, Gary Harris was the only Denver Nugget (other than Monte Morris) to finish the game with a positive +- (Harris was a +1).

Juancho 3 Got Your 3!

Additionally, Juan Hernangomez also had a big game for the Denver Nuggets. With the Nuggets somewhat struggling from 3, recently Juan has really stepped up in that department. Bringing the much-needed threat from deep, that the Denver Nuggets have needed to help keep opposing defenses honest.

Juan scored 20 points, was 7 of 12 from the field, 4 of 6 from 3, had 11 rebounds, 2 assists and a block in 35 minutes of play.

The Player Of The Game

Solid play indeed from all of the 3 players above. Which makes choosing a player of the game extremely difficult. However, for this game, the nod has to go to none other than Nikola Jokic.

The main reason is Jokic, was a wounded warrior in this game and still nearly had a triple double. Gary Harris and Juan Hernangomez gave all they had in this game. For that, they deserve to be commended.

However, Nikola Jokic gave all that he could give. Arguably, if he never had that slip the Denver Nuggets would have presented a bigger challenge to the New Orleans Pelicans. As it stands, Jokic’s had the biggest overall impact on the game. Leading almost all Nuggets in terms of points, rebounds and assists. Had Jokic been able to keep up the pace he started the game with, his performance may have rivaled that of AD’s himself.

Nevertheless, speculation is a messy game. The next time the Denver Nuggets play the Pelicans is January 30th.

Hopefully both franchise players play their best games and we see for ourselves how well a healthy Joker can fill up a stat sheet. After all, you know what they say about the person who gets the last laugh, don’t you?