Trey Murphy III may have won the 3-point shooting contest with Michael Porter Jr., but the Nuggets won where it mattered.
Porter scored a season-high 36 points on Monday night, and Denver overcame Murphy’s 41-point heat check for a 125-113 victory over New Orleans. The two Western Conference foes are due for a rematch Wednesday at Ball Arena.
In Nikola Jokic‘s second matchup against the Pelicans’ weak center rotation this season, he compiled 27 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists — his seventh consecutive triple-double against New Orleans.
Porter added seven rebounds, two assists and a block while shooting 7 of 12 from the 3-point line, outdone only by Murphy’s scorching 8-for-12 night. Porter was also a team-best plus-20 in his 39 minutes.
Not a bad response to an 0-for-6 showing from the perimeter two nights earlier.
“Once I started hitting, I started taking some tougher ones that went down tonight,” Porter said. “And I think just trying to just rest after that back-to-back, I felt pretty good overall. Just trying to take care of my body, and I came in tonight feeling pretty refreshed after that road trip.”
With Houston’s loss on Monday, the Nuggets (31-19) pulled within 1.5 games of third place in the West.
Winners of three straight (if somewhat unconvincingly), they led by as many as 20 before the Pelicans ended the third quarter on a 10-0 run. Suddenly, Denver was protecting a 93-85 advantage with Jokic taking a breather. But the fourth started with back-to-back 3s from Julian Strawther then Porter, courtesy of Jamal Murray’s behind-the-back assist. The play was a pick-and-pop from the left wing, with Porter slipping out of his screen to the corner for the spot-up look.
C.J. McCollum got hot to answer Denver’s quick 6-0 run, but the Nuggets managed to hold off their visitors’ comeback ambitions despite not having Aaron Gordon, Russell Westbrook or Peyton Watson in the lineup.
Gordon was a late scratch for injury management of his calf — “something that we’re probably going to be dealing with, probably for the remainder of the season,” coach Michael Malone said. Westbrook missed his second consecutive game with a hamstring injury, creating space in the rotation for third-string point guard Jalen Pickett. And Watson is at the beginning of what Denver expects to be a four-week absence at minimum, due to a sprained knee.
That meant that after his five-block performance in Charlotte over the weekend, Zeke Nnaji was upgraded to the starting lineup out of necessity. He navigated around two immediate fouls to contribute 12 points, five rebounds and steady defense against Zion Williamson. The New Orleans star scored 14 points on 13 field goal attempts.
“That’s back-to-back games where Zeke Nnaji has put his imprint all over the game on the defensive end,” Malone said.
Meanwhile, Murphy illuminated a recurring problem for the Nuggets. They have allowed 16.3 made 3-pointers per game in the last eight, with New Orleans burying 18 of 38 attempts on them.
“Tonight it wasn’t really transition 3s. I mean, Trey Murphy had a special night,” Malone said. “Hell of a talent. … When you’re guarding a guy like that, obviously we can do a better job limiting his separation and air space, giving him different looks, trying to get the ball out of his hands. That’s on me. … It’s close-outs. It’s over-helping. One time, I think Michael got caught over-helping on a drive, and Zion kicked it to C.J.”
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