A few weeks ago Denver nuggets beat Dallas mavericks 106-75, giving a strong blow to the new project in Texas led by Jason Kidd. This Monday the Mavs took revenge at home: they won by 111-101, a smaller margin, but they sure left the same bad feeling in Denver because of how they did it.
Neither team had a super outstanding job in the game in general terms, perhaps with the exception of the first quarter, but it was more about a story about who did not do worse in which the figures of both franchises added the necessary points . This is how Denver was in front for a good part of the game, because Jokic played and made play the others while Dallas stayed more in the Porzingis shot.
But in such an even encounter everything was going to be defined in the last quarter and there the Nuggets disarmed completely, first with the players from his bench and then with Jokic and what was left of the starting team of a Denver badly hit by injuries (without Jamal Murray, without Will Barton and without Michael Porter Jr.) did not quite get along while Tim Hardaway Jr. and Jalen Brunson finished giving Dallas the necessary points. There was practically no fight in the clutch from the visiting team, which saw the end of his streak of five consecutive wins and left third place in the Western Conference in the hands of the winners, now with the best record (9-4 for Dallas, 9-5 for Denver).
Kristaps Porzingis finished with 29 points (5-8 on 3s) and 11 rebounds as the leading star of the winners on a night in which Luka doncic He dealt with the most defensive attention but still almost reached a triple-double: 23 points, 11 assists and 8 rebounds. Equally Attention to Luka, who was injured in an ankle with 44 seconds remaining in the game. For his part Hardaway Jr. scored 19 points and Brunson 17, both making more than 55% of their field goals.
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Denver, which conceded 62 points in the second half after limiting Dallas to 14 points in the second quarter, had to settle for the 35 points, 16 rebounds and 6 assists from Jokic. The rest did most of their work in the first half, like most of the 17 points of Mount morris, the 12 of Austin rivers or all of the 7 Bowl bowl.
Facundo Campazzo had 9 minutes from the bench in which he missed his three field goals and contributed a rebound, a steal and an assist and Bones HylandAfter having scored 18 goals against the Portland Trail Blazers, he was 2 points with 1-4 from the field and only played 11 minutes due to an ankle discomfort.
Then relive what were all the live updates with the highlights of the match.
Stats | Play by play | Highlights
First quarter:
Everything goes through Jokic and Doncic at the start of the game as expected. The parity is absolute with the Nuggets leading 16-13 because they are a little better on the boards and Austin Rivers was already present with two triples in two attempts.
An early Joker Jam, you love to see it pic.twitter.com/hCPDTFCL77
– Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) November 16, 2021
Denver has no problem scoring points: Rivers was joined by Monte Morris, who already has 8, while Jokic has 9 on a team that has hardly missed shots at the basket. The problem for the Nuggets is being Luka Doncic: the Slovenian accumulates 10 points and 4 assists in the nine minutes of the game that were played and Dallas and Denver tied at 25 after a series of baskets by Luka.
KP’s fake was so nice, he got our camera man 😳@AcmeBrick | #MFFL pic.twitter.com/dxafmlB9qO
– Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) November 16, 2021
Already without Doncic or Jokic on the court, Kristaps Porzingis was the central protagonist: the Latvian scored a triple and then reached the basket first on a counterattack, thus being able to tie the game at 32 just before a triple by Jalen Brunson on the buzzer leaves the 35-32 partial for Dallas. The two teams have a 63% success rate in field goals. There are minutes for Bol Bol in Denver with so many casualties on the roster. Campazzo has also entered the game.
Second bedroom:
Bol Bol gave Denver some really good minutes to open the second period, with seven straight points from him to go up 39-37. Denver’s second drive with Monte Morris in place of Bones Hyland, who came out with a sore ankle, this time held out up front.
Precise assistance from @facucampazzo for Bol Bol 🤩#MileHighBasketball
👉 https://t.co/Kdw8pVgJaW pic.twitter.com/FTuR7sVQXy
– NBA Latam (@NBALatam) November 16, 2021
The headlines’ return to the game saw Doncic level it all at 44 quickly with his first triple of the night. But that was the only field goal made by Dallas in the final five minutes of action. With 3:41 left, the Nuggets win 50-44 after a series of free throws by Jeff Green and a triple by Aaron Gordon after excellent assist from Jokic. The Mavs seem to have no way to stop the Serb and he punishes the defensive aids.
Denver went at halftime winning 58-49: without playing at a high level, they won the second quarter 26-14 against a Dallas with no offensive performance that also suffered even the attacks of Jeff Green on defense. Porzingis has 17 points in the game and Doncic 13 but the Nuggets starters and also Bol Bol have been more efficient, enough to take a 9 point lead into the second half.
Third quarter:
Nikola Jokic is being unstoppable for Dallas. Porzingis signs a great game at the moment, already with 24 points and over 50% in field shots, taking advantage of the fact that Denver adjusts on Doncic and does not care so much about him, but the Mavericks have barely managed to cut the difference to 70-62 in the start of the second half of the match.
The outside shot supports the local team in a game: Porzingis has already reached 29 points by dint of triples mainly and Frank Ntilikina has just made one from the corner to discount it to 79-75 in favor of Denver. The atmosphere in the stadium begins to grow with just two and a half minutes left in the third quarter and the Mavericks fighting.
KP is COOKING ♨️
He’s up to 27 PTS on the night #CenterCourt pic.twitter.com/eOYgA3RY2T
– NBA TV (@NBATV) November 16, 2021
83-79 for Denver by the end of the third quarter: Bones Hyland returned to the game after his ankle problem but still did not make an impact. Will Denver now win substitute minutes again?
Last room:
Dallas ahead! The Mavericks started with two 3-pointers in one minute from Dorian Finney-Smith and Reggie Bullock and now win 85-83.
Totally negative passage from Denver’s bench this time: It took him three minutes to score points, with everyone missing shots, and Dallas’ lead went 93-85 with Brunson and Hardaway Jr. controlling a game in which the Nuggets were thrown out of control. They still have time to settle down: eight and a half minutes to go. It will be time for the return of the Jokic and the headlines.
Not even with the MVP on the court Denver seems to be able to come back: Dallas leads 102-93 with more triples and beginning to get stronger in the rebounds section.
Tim Hardaway Jr. was fired up after the and-1 😤#CenterCourt pic.twitter.com/Eaz20eqE2E
– NBA TV (@NBATV) November 16, 2021
Jokic reached 35 points in the game with a fourth quarter on par with what he had done in the rest of the game, but he was truly the only Nuggets player to match. Dallas already leads 109-98 and seems to have the game controlled with Doncic, Porzingis and Hardaway Jr. above 19 points.
In the end there was only time for bad news for Doncic: he twisted an ankle with 44 seconds to play, but he left the court under his own power. Situation to follow tomorrow.
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Dallas Mavericks overwhelmed the Denver Nuggets in the end and took the win with Kristaps Porzingis and Luka Doncic as figures | NBA.com Spain | The Official Site of the NBA