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Mavericks survive Nuggets rally as Nikola Jokic returns, 123-120

Pabio November 23, 2024

The Dallas Mavericks and Denver Nuggets entered Friday night’s game with a 1-1 record in the NBA Cup and looking to take control of the Wild Card in the Western Conference. Denver got some big news with Nikola Jokic returning to the lineup after missing the last three games, while the Mavs were without Luka Doncic.

With Doncic out of the lineup, Dallas started Kyrie Irving, Quentin Grimes, Klay Thompson, PJ Washington and Derek Lively II, while Denver rolled with Jamal Murray, Christian Braun, Michael Porter Jr., Peyton Watson and Jokic.

It was a PJ Washington and Quentin Grimes show early on, with Dallas clearly making a concerted effort to get Washington involved early on, thinking he had an advantage over Peyton Watson. Grimes and Washington had 16 of the Mavs’ first 22 points. Denver showed Kyrie Irving two defenders every time he touched the basketball, so he involved the others.

After the Mavs took a 20-9 lead, Denver rallied, cutting the lead to 22-18. Naji Marshall got rolling with his elite finishing in the paint, scoring six points in a matter of minutes to cut the lead to eight for the Mavs. In the final minute of the quarter, however, Nikola Jokic went on a 6-0 run to cut the lead to two, with Dallas taking a 33-31 lead into the second quarter.

After some questionable fouls against Denver, Dallas used some momentum to extend the lead to nine early in the second quarter. Denver would always fight back, but they could never overcome the obstacle to take the lead.

Thanks to the magic of Naji Marshall’s late shots, an and-one from Kyrie Irving and some attacks to the basket, the Mavericks took a 19-point lead at the end of the first half. While Jokic was doing Jokic things for the Nuggets, no one else could really go, and the Mavs took a 73-53 lead into halftime.

Jokic had 19 of those points on 8/14 shooting, while Christian Braun had 10 points on 4/6 shooting. The rest of the Nuggets only had 24 points on 6/24 shooting. This is the main reason why Dallas took such a big lead going into the break. Getting 32 points off their bench also helped them, which helped them outscore Denver 40-22 in the second quarter.

Michael Porter Jr. began making some shots in the opening minutes of the second half, using one of his patented heaters to cut Dallas’ lead to 12 midway through the period. Denver lacked energy in the first half, but that wasn’t the case in the third quarter, as Dallas’ starters seemed winded by the pace of the game.

A Dallas timeout didn’t put Denver in check as they continued to chip away at the lead, cutting it to three on a 27-6 run. The Mavs were taking bad shots and running a poor offense while everything looked easy for the Nuggets. Through the first nine minutes of the third quarter, Dallas shot 6/19 from the floor while Denver was 12/18. This is a surefire way to erase a track.

The Mavericks stabilized things a bit, holding a 95-89 lead heading into the fourth quarter, but the path to a victory looked much tougher than it did at halftime. Naji Marshall was playing excellent basketball for the Mavs, hitting three three-pointers in a game for the first time since he was a Pelican and providing his usual reliability in the paint.

Russell Westbrook, of all players, buried back-to-back triples to start the fourth quarter to cut the lead to four with Nikola Jokic on the bench. Then, former Mavericks DeAndre Jordan was on the receiving end of a lob to cut the lead to two. By the time Jokic returned with seven minutes left, Dallas was only four points ahead and he was one of the few players with a positive plus/minus.

Westbrook hit another three-pointers after Mavs free throws to cut it to three, then Jokic hit a running shot to cut it to one with six minutes remaining. Denver would take their first lead of the game on their next possession with a Peyton Watson corner three, having completely erased a 24-point lead.

Denver would go up five with three minutes remaining with a Peyton Watson dunk as the Dallas offense looked lifeless. PJ Washington would tie the game with two minutes left after a good drive, then an and-one in transition on the next sequence.

Lively made two blocks on what appeared to be easy shots to keep the game tied, then Quentin Grimes gave the Mavericks the lead again after two free throws while fighting for a loose ball. PJ Washington attacked a mismatch against Jamal Murray on the next possession to extend its lead to four with 49.7 seconds left.

Jokic cut the lead to two with 41 seconds left on a surprisingly easy basket, considering how close the game was, one-on-one with Washington. This allowed Dallas to put the game away, something they couldn’t do when these two teams were playing a few games ago. Naji Marshall scored a runner as the shot clock expired to cut the lead to four with 18.8 seconds left.

Dallas decided to put Russell Westbrook at the free throw line with 13.7 seconds left on the game clock. He bricked the first one on the front of the rim, and the second was an intentional miss on the back of the rim , which led to an offensive rebound from Jokic. He passed it to Jamal Murray, who hit it and cut the lead to one.

Kyrie Irving made two free throws in seven seconds; then they fouled Jamal Murray with 4.2 left. Murray hit the first and tried to intentionally miss the second, but he gambled on an accident, bringing the lead to one.

PJ Washington then went to the line with 3.8 seconds left, hitting both. He would then steal the inside pass and the game would be over, with Dallas winning a thriller 123-120. Dallas now improves to 2-1 in the NBA Cup, putting itself in prime position to clinch the Wild Card and advance to the knockout stage.

Naji Marshall was incredible for the Mavs, scoring 26 points on 11/15 shooting from the bench. Seven different Mavericks scored in double figures, showing another overall effort for Dallas. PJ Washington had a very good evening (22 points, 13 rebounds and three steals), Kyrie Irving was not far behind (19 points, six assists, six rebounds), Quentin Grimes had 14 points, Daniel Gafford had 13 , Derek Lively II had 11 and Spencer Dinwiddie had 10. Perhaps the most impressive part of this win, even with Luka Doncic out, was that Dallas was able to achieve a victory with Klay. Thompson didn’t score a single point, shooting 0/8 from the field.

Nikola Jokic was terrific in his return, with 33 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists. After not getting much help in the first half, he got it in the second half. Michael Porter Jr. and Christian Braun had 17 points each, Russell Westbrook had 16, Peyton Watson had 15 and Jamal Murray had 14. Denver also shot 15/29 from three-point range in this game.

The Nuggets had never won a game in franchise history by trailing by 20 or more points at halftime. They had a chance to do it in this one, but Dallas ultimately made enough plays.

The Mavericks have a long flight before facing the Miami Heat in South Beach on Sunday night.

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