The new round of the NBA league ushered in a strong showdown, that is, the Nets' first game against the Nuggets. The Nets are currently third in the East with 29 wins and 18 losses, while the Nuggets are 6th in the West with 25 wins and 21 losses, and the two teams' recent records are not very satisfactory to their goals, but the overall ranking is still in a satisfactory position. However, in this round of two-strong meeting, the Nets Big Three are all absent for various reasons (Irving does not play, Durant is injured, Harden also has a left hamstring tension), and the balance of the game is slightly tilted to the Nuggets. However, the game itself is not only based on the team lineup and hard power, but also on the performance of both sides on the field. It's up to the game itself to give the final answer. Let's first look at the starting lineups of both sides. The Nuggets still sent their strongest combination: Monte Morris, Will Barton, Aaron Gordon, Jeff Green and Jokic. The Nets sent out a five-man team of Mills, Bembrey, Kessler Edwards, James Johnson and Aldridge.
In the first quarter, Aldridge helped the Nets open the scoring 2-0, and Wilbartton responded with two consecutive outside three-pointers. Then the two sides failed to attack the attack for several back and forth, and in 4 minutes, it was Will Barton who stood up and pulled the score to 10-4 through a one-handed split inside. The outside line has a strong pulling force, and even Jokic has taken a free shot on the outside line and hit an easy three-point shot. The Nuggets also used a wave of 7-0 to stretch the two sides to 15-4. Without the Big Three, the Nets only scored 4 points for more than 5 minutes, which is really tragic. Fortunately, when the timeout came back, their offensive status picked up, and Edwards's own rebounding and quick attack made the gap between the two sides quickly narrow to 12-17. Steve Nash's timeout helped the Nets return a wave of 8-2. Both sides then hit three-point shots from each outside, and the Nets' inside line also seized the offensive opportunity to continue to narrow the gap between the two sides, with 2 minutes and 40 seconds left in the first quarter, and the two teams had already reached a 22-22 draw. Griffin's sluggish layup set the score at 29-28 in the first quarter, giving the Nuggets a one-point lead.
In the second quarter of the game, the opening two sides were in a mess in the process of competing for the ball. Or Forbes scored 2 points with a small throw in the chaotic battle, and Cameron Thomas responded strongly with a limit small throw. Griffin's self-throwing basket successfully gave the Nets a 33-32 lead. The same point was his helped Mills get another three points. The two sides also entered the state of equal division again. In five minutes, the score came to 46-42, and the Nuggets led by four points. Thomas' strong play against Jokic narrowed the score to 45-46, with only one point apart. The two sides then went back to three-point snatching, with Cameron Thomas giving the Nets two consecutive three-pointers, and Aaron Gordon immediately tied the score at 48-48 with a drifting back jumper. At this point, Edwards stepped up behind Thomas, both from a three-point shot and a quick look for Aldridge to get a 2+1 chance to help the Nets take a 58-52 lead. By the end of the first half, the Nets led the Nuggets by 11 points at 65-54. Throughout the first half, on the Nuggets side, Will Barton had a team-high 10 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists. Cousins, who came off the bench, also scored 11 points. On the Nets side, Aldridge contributed a team-high 14 points and five rebounds, and Cameron Thomas also scored 12 points.
As the game entered the second half, Barton made a self-inflicted basket to help the Nuggets pull the score back to a 56-65 single-digit margin. Jokic's three-point shot helped the two sides make it 63-70. Will Barton's three-point re-hit, as well as a small angle layup after the inside break, coupled with Jeff Green's split dunk, allowed the Nuggets to narrow the gap back to 70-73 with only 3 and a half minutes. Aldridge's consecutive interior shots allowed the Nets to pull the score apart again, but Will Barton's drifting layup brought the two sides back to a three-point gap. Jokic's strong layup hit 2+1, coupled with Jeff Green's same inside hit, the two sides re-established a 79-79 draw. His extra free throw helped the Nuggets reverse the score. In the last two minutes of the quarter, Jokic had an offense on the inside and Rivers also hit a three-pointer on the outside, and although Cousins won consecutive free throws to help the Nets chase points, Jeff Carter's step-up layup helped the Nuggets take a 96-91 lead at the end of the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter of the tiebreaker, the two sides had only a 5-point difference, and both teams had a chance to win. Cameron Thomas' midfield possession helped the Nets close the gap to 94-96. Mills' three-point shot brought the two sides to a 99-99 draw. However, the Nuggets then shot out of the box and had many experiences at the free throw line, and in 5 and a half minutes, the difference between the two sides reached 113-106. The Nuggets' lead reached seven points. Although Mills' three-pointers were still accurate, James Johnson's forward offensive was also strong, and with 4 minutes left to finish the game, the difference between the two sides was only 4 points. But then both teams missed offense a few times, or Jokic continued to pull apart the two sides by going to the free throw line consecutively, and with one minute left by the end of the game, the Nuggets had already pulled the difference between the two sides to 7 points at 122-114. What is more interesting is that at this time, the shouts of Jokic's MVP were heard from the sidelines. As the last point of game time was over, the well-organized Nuggets also defeated the Nets by 124-118, 6 points, ushering in the final victory of the game, and also sent the Nets three consecutive losses.
Finally, let's look at the statistics of the main players on both sides: on the Nuggets side, Jokic had 26 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists. Will Barton also had 21 points and 10 rebounds on the mark. Austin Rivers contributed 25 points. Cousins contributed 13 points and two technical prisoners were expelled. On the Nets side, Thomas scored a team-high 25 points, Aldridge 18 points and 8 rebounds, Mills 21 points, 3 rebounds and 6 assists, Bembry 14 points, Carter 13 points, and Johnson also had 12 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists.