For two quarters, the sleepy, sloppy basketball game being played at Ball Arena on Saturday looked like a meeting of two teams playing a back-to-back. In the third quarter, it looked like one team got a day’s worth of rest during halftime.
The Nuggets went 12-deep into their bench across the first three quarters and crushed the visiting Chicago Bulls 123-101, but not before Jamal Murray exited the game with right hamstring tightness 50 seconds into the second quarter. Murray, who played 39 minutes Friday night against the Mavericks, did not return.
Nikola Jokic led Denver (6-1) with 28 points, 16 rebounds and nine assists. Michael Porter Jr. heated up from the perimeter in the second half, finishing with 27 points, and Aaron Gordon added a 15-point, 12-rebound double-double. He was often the most lively Nuggets starter on the court during a foul-filled, subpar first half. Denver trailed 53-51 at the break but started the second half on an 18-2 run to bury the Bulls (2-5). Out of the locker room, Porter earned an and-one on a back cut to give the Nuggets the lead for good. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Reggie Jackson, who replaced Murray with the starters, drained 3-pointers to quickly expand the lead to double digits.
Jackson and Christian Braun, Denver’s two bench leaders in minutes this season, both scored in double figures to lead a large cast of backups who played. In two preseason games against Chicago, Andre Drummond dominated the Nuggets on the offensive glass, so Michael Malone used DeAndre Jordan as his backup center Saturday in place of Zeke Nnaji. Jordan played 12 minutes, while Nnaji only appeared for the last two seconds of the first half, then in garbage time.
Rookie Julian Strawther played meaningful reps, highlighted by a 3-pointer and a dribble handoff action that he initiated to set up Braun for a corner three. After Murray was out and the Nuggets required more point guard depth, Collin Gillespie played with Denver’s four healthy starters and scored his first career NBA points on a slash to the rim, which Porter rewarded with an assist. Gillespie also registered his first career assist to Braun in the third quarter.
Aside from Jokic, Porter was Denver’s most valuable player of the weekend. After guarding Luka Doncic successfully Friday and scoring 24 points, he continued to find his offensive game Saturday, completing the back-to-back shooting 19 for 34 from the field and 9 for 18 from the perimeter. Porter decided early in the Mavericks game to work from the inside out as a scorer, hoping to build confidence with easy buckets then get into a rhythm with his 3-point shooting.
After playing five games in a seven-day stretch, the Nuggets have a day to breathe before their last two contests of the current four-game home stand. The competition will be formidable, with New Orleans (4-2) coming to town Monday followed by Golden State (5-1) on Wednesday.
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