The defending champions won by a big victory, Murray scored 37 points, and the champion retired injured
On January 8, Beijing time, the NBA regular season continued, and the defending champion Nuggets hosted the league's bottom-of-the-league Pistons. When the two teams met for the first time in November, Jokic was dissatisfied with the referee's blowing penalty, and directly threw the ball to chase the referee for an explanation, and was ejected, and the Nuggets finally won by only 4 points! The Nuggets had a previous record of 25 wins and 12 losses, which is actually not much different from last season, but this season because of the rise of the Timberwolves and Thunder, the Nuggets are not very prominent. According to the prediction of the American media, the probability of the Nuggets entering the playoffs this season is 99.8%, and it is difficult to surpass the Timberwolves and Thunder, and the remaining schedule of the Clippers is easier than that of the Nuggets, and it is also a good choice to keep the top four. It's embarrassing that the Nuggets have a 9-12 record this season against teams with a win rate of more than 50%, compared to a 16-0 record!
To put it simply, the Nuggets' regular season is only the ability to abuse vegetables, and there is no advantage in playing the Clippers, Thunder, Timberwolves and other teams! Jokic's state has picked up in recent games, playing the Warriors with 34 points, 9 rebounds and 10 assists, and playing the Magic with 29 points, 4 rebounds and 8 assists, but the team lost! The Pistons had a previous record of 3 wins and 32 losses, and the previous wave of 28 consecutive defeats spanning October to December set a new NBA single-season losing streak, and finally stopped the decline here in the Raptors. However, in recent games, they have lost to the Rockets, the Jazz and the Warriors, and have begun to embark on a new journey. Pistons starters: Cunningham + Ivey + Bogdanovic + Rivers + Duren. Nuggets starters: Murray + Pope + Porter + Gordon + Jokic.
At the beginning of the game, Duren continued to attack Jokic, Murray responded with free throws and three-pointers, Cunningham hit a three-pointer, and Porter and Pope burst inside and outside to lead the team to take the lead. In the middle of the game, Bogda and Duren led the team to chase points, Jokic did not have any desire to attack with the ball, looking for Porter and Murray, fortunately, his teammates were very efficient! In the second half, Gordon threw himself and grabbed himself, and it was surprising that he missed the empty basket, and Berks hit a three-point shot against Jokic! At the end of the quarter, Wiseman ate cakes and dunked, Murray and Reggie rained three-pointers, and Knox stopped the bleeding with three points. At the end of the first quarter, the Nuggets led the Pistons 31-29, and Jokic didn't shoot!
Back in the second quarter, Murray ate Cunningham alone, and then flew to dunk! Bogda blossomed inside and out, leading the team to overtake the Nuggets in waves! Wiseman also seized the opportunity to dunk, and the Pistons stopped the Nuggets again! In the middle of the period, Jordan Jr. continued to eat cakes and dunks in the air, until the second half, Jokic finally shot, and the result was an iron! Porter hit three points, Murray picked a basket, and the Pistons responded by relying on Burks to rain three points. At the end of the birth quarter, Pope scored 4 points in a row, Murray stepped on the line and hit a two-point shot, and Jokic also made a throw! At halftime, the Nuggets led the Pistons 65-57, Murray scored 24 points in the half, Jokic had 4 points, 8 assists and 5 rebounds, and Porter scored 11 points. On the Pistons' side, Burks scored 13 points, Bogda scored 10 points, and Cunningham strained his left knee and exited the game.
At the beginning of the second half, Murray scored consecutive free throws, Pope cut and dunked, and Jokic sent Duren 2+1, but Gordon and Murray blossomed inside and outside or easily opened the difference. In the middle of the period, Bogda hit consecutive singles, Gordon hit 2 1, and completed 2+1 toughly! In the second half, Jokic continued to feed Reggie, Porter, and Watson, and had already got 16 assists! In the second half, there was a sudden accident on the court: slow motion showed that the Pistons' Osar Thompson pushed down Watson, Watson was very unconvinced, the two were ready to fight directly, the referee and the players on both sides hurriedly pulled away, and Thompson also ate a first-class foul! At the end of the quarter, Watson hit three points + fast break split, and Wiseman scored 2+1, Jordan Jr. continued to bully Wiseman, plus Watson's three-pointer, and the game was spent!
At the end of the third quarter, the Nuggets led the Pistons 108-85. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Pistons did not give up, Duren tossed, Knox made consecutive layups, Ivey stole and counterattacked, only Murray scored on the Nuggets' side, and Malone cautiously called a stop! The final 4 minutes went into garbage time, and in the end, the Nuggets beat the Pistons 131-114 at home!
Nuggets statistics, Murray 37 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists, Pope 18 points and 4 rebounds, Gordon 8 points, Jokic 2 of 3 in 24 minutes, 4 points, 7 rebounds, 5 blocks and 16 assists! Porter 18 points and 2 assists, Watson 15 points and 5 rebounds, Reggie 13 points and 9 assists. Pistons statistics, champion Cunningham retired from injury, only 3 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists, Ivey 13 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists, Duren 20 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists, Bogda 14 points and 3 steals, Rivers 11 points and 5 rebounds, Knox 12 points and 3 rebounds, Burks 18 points. Jokic became the first player in NBA history to score no more than 5 points, but can deliver at least 15 assists + 5 rebounds and 5 blocks!