Nikola Jokic's career-high 56 points go to waste as Wizards beat Nuggets, end 16-game losing streak

Bennett Durando, The Denver Post on Dec 7, 2024

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

WASHINGTON — Asked to share the biggest challenges of coaching a game without multiple starters Saturday night, a straight-faced Michael Malone said, “Making sure I don’t play Nikola 48 minutes.”

When the comment fell on deaf ears, he felt the need to clarify.

“That was a joke,” the Nuggets coach said, banging on the table in front of him like a drum set.

It was no joke three hours later, when Jokic was seated on the bench with 47 points through three quarters and the short-handed Nuggets were struggling to tread water against an opponent on a 16-game losing streak.

Jokic finished with a career-high 56, but Denver spared the Washington Wizards from their misery anyway with a 122-113 loss at Capital One Arena. The three-time MVP single-handedly chipped away at a 15-point deficit in the third, getting it to six before earning some rest. It was back to 13 by the time he checked back in. His 38 field-goal attempts were also a career high.

Without Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon, the Nuggets (11-10) didn’t get a secondary scoring contribution of more than 18 points. They were outscored by 33 from behind the 3-point line, with Jokic making three of their five 3s. Jordan Poole led the Wizards with 39 points in their first win since October.

Halftime marked the exact endpoint of the first quarter of this season. Maybe that was fitting. Most of the Nuggets, with the obvious exception of Jokic, had neglected to make an appearance. He had 24 points on 10-of-12 shooting, which included a missed full-court shot. Nobody else on the roster was in double digits.

As a team, the Nuggets were out-shooting Washington by 11% because they made 23 of 30 shots inside the arc. But they made only one 3-pointer and turned it over 12 times. When Jokic buried a long-range jumper with 57 seconds left in the half, it marked the latest point in a game that any NBA team has made its first 3 this season, breaking a record previously held by Denver (two days earlier in Cleveland).

Perimeter defense continued to be a disaster. Poole alone made five 3s in the half for 21 points. The Nuggets lost shooters off-ball. They committed a three-shot foul 0.7 seconds before the buzzer.

They chipped away in the third. Well, Jokic did, mostly. But every time it got close, a defensive breakdown or a rebounding lapse followed. The Wizards made consecutive second-chance 3s to keep Denver at arm’s length late in the frame, forcing a Malone timeout down 91-83 despite 40 of his team’s points coming from Jokic.

Washington kept beating the Nuggets to its own misses down the stretch, finishing with 15 offensive rebounds that turned into 16 points.

With the Nuggets headed to Atlanta for a back-to-back Sunday, Murray, Gordon and Dario Saric were each ruled out in the last two hours before opening tip. Christian Braun played despite dealing with a quad injury that had popped up.

“Jamal, I think he, in the Cleveland game, maybe aggravated his hamstring. … During the course of a game, adrenaline flowing, didn’t really feel that bad during the game,” Malone said. “Was able to finish. And then obviously after the game, flying, it stiffens up.”