DENVER — For a night, Jeff Green looked young again.
Long in the tooth and even longer in his career, Green soared through Denver’s thin air, propelling the Nuggets to a 118-109 win over Dallas on Wednesday night. That it came in the final game before the All-Star break made it all the more improbable.
“The biggest challenge is not being satisfied,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “Staying hungry, staying motivated.”
Green paced the Nuggets with a season-high 24 points, as the Nuggets improved to 41-18 overall and 27-4 at home. They won’t play again until Feb. 23rd at Cleveland.
By then, perhaps injured Nuggets Jamal Murray (knee) and Aaron Gordon (rib) will be back in the fold for the stretch run.
On Wednesday, it was Green, Michael Porter Jr. (22 points) and Nikola Jokic, who recorded his 21st triple-double of the season, that protected home court. His 14-point, 13-rebound, 10-assist night almost felt like an afterthought with so many other impressive performances.
“He’s in attack mode,” Malone said of Porter. “That’s like a whole other dimension.”
Dallas’ Luka Doncic poured in 37 points but without his newest teammate, Kyrie Irving, his support wasn’t close to there.
Denver dished 34 assists to just 13 turnovers.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was frustrated enough about his omission from the 3-point contest during All-Star weekend that he took to social media on Tuesday to vent. A day later, he took it out on the Mavs. Caldwell-Pope buried two 3-pointers in the third quarter and coupled with his tenacious defense helped the Nuggets maintain a comfortable double-digit lead. His marksmanship, staggered with the second unit, gave the Nuggets a complementary dimension to Ish Smith’s speed and Thomas Bryant’s size.
When Smith found Bryant for a dunk late in the third quarter, new addition Reggie Jackson got off the bench and mimicked goggles over his eyes for the find. It didn’t take long for Jackson to ingratiate himself to his new teammates. During one timeout, he was up on the bench offering pointers to former teammate Bruce Brown before high-fiving the rest of his new teammates en route to his seat. Collectively, the new additions were already contributing. As a result, Denver carried a 92-74 lead into the final quarter.
Malone didn’t seem anxious with Murray’s status, though he allowed any time a player misses six games in a row, it’s always relatively concerning.
“It’s just being really smart this time of the year,” Malone said before the game. “There’s no reason to put him out there if he doesn’t have confidence in playing on that right knee right now. I think the break will do him well mentally, physically.”
After talking to him, Malone said he was reassured that Murray was in a good place heading into the break.
Vacation awaited the majority of Nuggets players following the conclusion of Wednesday’s game, but not all of them.
“I think it’s crazy that we’re going to Utah in a few days, and it’s just the coaching staff and Nikola,” Malone said, referencing Murray and Gordon, two All-Star snubs, and Caldwell-Pope, who was left out of the 3-point contest despite shooting 45% on the season.
Nonetheless, it will be Jokic and the coaching staff in Salt Lake City this weekend.
But Malone reminded his team they still had work to do before departing for a well-earned break.
They composed a sterling first half, which built them a 61-44 lead at the break. Doncic scored 23 points, but nobody else registered more than five over the first two quarters for the visitors.
Porter led the Nuggets with 15 points, including three 3-pointers. When the Mavericks threw a double-team in Jokic’s direction, Porter calmly buried a 25-footer, leaving the defense helpless. While Jokic was productive – and dominant when he wanted to be – the first half was about his supporting cast.
Denver’s bench amassed 20 points, as Green, Smith, Bryant and Christian Braun were all impactful. The latter two connected on the play of the night, when Braun lofted an alley-oop to Bryant, who announced his presence to Denver with an unambiguous jam.
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