Ish Smith scores career-high 32 points in a win over the Denver Nuggets. Nugg Love tells you everything you need to know.
In a game highlighted by the Washington Wizards playing without four of their top players and seven overall, it was the Denver Nuggets that looked outmatched. The Nuggets settled for jumpers on offense, and it was a virtual layup line on the defensive side.
The poor defensive effort allowed Ish Smith to score a career-high 32 points on 15-24 shooting and 92 points total to the Wizards bench on the way to an awful 128 – 114 loss.
Jamal Murray led the Nuggets with 39 points, including 27 in the second half. Still, the team’s inability to make any stops defensively, or limit Washington’s offensive rebounding meant that no amount of scoring would be enough.
The Nuggets bench was so thoroughly dominated that, despite head coach Michael Malone’s assurances before the game that he would give Michael Porter Jr extensive minutes going forward, Porter didn’t see the floor in the second half until garbage time. Ultimately, notching a -16 rating in 10 first-half minutes.
It started out ugly and finished even worse, but there were some entertaining plays along the way, and the Nuggets did make a game of it for most of the second half.