Back-to-backs, the Nuggets bid you wary adieu, for now.
In their league-leading ninth back-to-back of the first 45% of the season, Denver fell short of a road-home sweep with a 122-120 loss to the Magic on Friday night at Ball Arena. Jamal Murray’s attempt at a game-tying jumper rimmed out as time expired, not quite recreating the magic Nikola Jokic conjured the previous night.
Denver’s plan for the last possession was to get the ball to Jokic in the pocket, coach Michael Malone said. But the Magic switched as Murray and Jokic tried to initiate their two-man game, and Murray was bumped backward, throwing off the play and forcing him to improvise.
“But we lost this game in the third quarter,” Malone said. “… As I told our guys, whatever you’re doing at halftime, it’s not working. Individually and collectively. I’m beating guys out of the locker room at halftime. Get out there and get ready to play, man.”
Jalen Suggs was 7-of-9 from beyond the arc for 27 points, while Paolo Banchero amassed 15 of his 32 points at the foul line. He made four free throws in the last 35 seconds to tie and win the game, with a Kentavious Caldwell-Pope turnover sandwiched between.
“I thought there were a couple calls that could have gone either way. I thought Aaron (Gordon) played some pretty good defense on a few of those possessions, walling up, going vertical,” Malone said. “But Banchero’s a tough cover, obviously. … It’s not just on Aaron. You’ve gotta have help behind that. And when he’s putting his head down, driving to his right hand, you’ve gotta be in a shrink, you’ve gotta show him a crowd. And I felt too often tonight, we had guys that were just on the outside looking in.”
Denver (25-12) doesn’t have to play another back-to-back until Feb. 8-9, and that pair of games will be played in the same time zone. This was a rare trip forward in time to play the second game 23 hours after the first.
“It’s the worst back-to-back,” Malone said pregame. “I think they’ve kind of outlawed this in most states. The pacific coast to Denver.”
After the Nuggets erased an 18-point deficit in the last seven minutes to win the first leg, their own 18-point lead gradually dwindled in the second leg until they found themselves trailing 100-98 a minute into the fourth, with an all-bench unit on the floor and in foul trouble. From there, Denver was fighting upstream against a pesky Magic defense.
The Nuggets allowed 41 points in the third quarter on 75% shooting after allowing 44 to the Warriors.
Jokic followed up a career-defining moment Thursday with 29 points, eight assists and three steals. Michael Porter Jr. shot 4-for-6 outside in a 22-point outing, but he was on the bench for eight minutes between the third and fourth quarters while Orlando pulled ahead. Malone said his players’ tenuous foul situations didn’t affect how he handled his rotations.
Riding high on the adrenaline rush of Jokic’s 39-foot buzzer beater Thursday at Golden State, the Nuggets sought out long outlet passes and tried to out-run Orlando in transition every chance they got during the early minutes. The Magic had an extra day of rest, but it was also the fourth and final game of a winless road trip in which key players have been out. The list of inactives included Franz Wagner, Goga Bitadze, Wendell Carter Jr., Joe Ingles, Gary Harris, Jonathan Isaac and Markelle Fultz.
For the Nuggets, only Julian Strawther was unavailable, dealing with a knee contusion that Malone said shouldn’t be a long-term concern. Denver still deployed an all-bench lineup, however, substituting Justin Holiday in for Strawther. The 10-man rotation quickly became 11-deep when Peyton Watson picked up two early fouls and two-way player Braxton Key had to check in. After eight total foul calls in the first eight minutes set the tone for how the game would be officiated, a Key sighting seemed inevitable — especially because Orlando leads the league in fouls drawn.
Watson ended up getting called for his fourth foul with 6:38 remaining on a driving layup he (and the rest of Ball Arena) thought he blocked cleanly from behind. Zeke Nnaji had already picked up his fourth with 7:46 left. The Nuggets didn’t use their challenge after the Watson foul, instead waiting for an out-of-bounds call later in the fourth.
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