NEW ORLEANS – The New Orleans Pelicans may wish they could play the Denver Nuggets every night. While the Pelicans have struggled to be competitive on many nights this season, they’ve played some of their best basketball against the Nuggets.
Unfortunately, their best wasn’t good enough as the Pelicans couldn’t hold on to another double-digit second-half lead, losing to the Nuggets 132-129 in overtime at The Smoothie King Center.
The Pelicans now enter the Christmas holiday break 20 games under .500 at 5-25 and have lost seven games in a row. New Orleans hasn’t been this many games in the red since the end of the 2015-16 season when they finished 30-52.
Jordan Hawkins came off the bench to score a team-high 25 points, CJ McCollum added 24 points and nine assists, and Trey Murphy and Yves Missi scored 21 each. Dejounte Murray flirted with a triple-double, posting 17 points, eight rebounds, and a season-high 15 assists.
Nikola Jokic did get his triple-double, scoring 27 points to go along with 13 rebounds and 10 assists. Jamal Murray also scored 27 and Russell Westbrook came off the bench to score 21.
Murphy opened the game continuing to be more aggressive on the offensive end, leading the Pelicans with nine points in the first quarter, and scoring on all three levels. As a team, New Orleans was able to take advantage of eight Denver turnovers in the period as they built a narrow 29-28 lead after the opening frame.
Even with the Nuggets making a lot of mistakes, the Pelicans couldn’t pull away. Whenever they were able to pull ahead, they would invariably have a stagnant possession or two that would allow Denver to get right back into the game.
That is until roughly midway through the second quarter when reserves Jordan Hawkins and Brandon Boston got going. The duo was driving, dunking, and shooting with abandon, as New Orleans went up 47-38 on the strength of an 11-4 run. Hawkins even got it going on the defensive end with a pair of blocks on one possession.
The Pelicans continued to attack the basket, scoring 34 points in the paint in the first half on their way to an eight-point halftime lead. Defensively, New Orleans held Jokic in check, not allowing the big man to score his first bucket until only two minutes remained in the second quarter. It was one of the best halves of basketball played by the team all season.
That effort and aggression carried over into the third quarter, as the Pelicans continued to make things happen in the open court. Missi stood toe-to-toe with Jokic, scoring eight points in the period. And Hawkins got his jumper going, adding seven points. New Orleans suffered a setback late in the third quarter when Murphy went down with an injured ankle, but the Pels were still up by 12 heading into the fourth.
Without Murphy, the offense sputtered and the defense wilted. Denver erased the deficit over the first seven minutes and retook the lead, 111-109, with 4:37 to play on a Julian Strawther layup.
The Nuggets pulled ahead by five points, and on multiple occasions, the Pelicans were within one with a chance to take the lead. CJ McCollum buried a triple with :53 remaining to put New Orleans back on top 119-117.
Denver would answer on a Jamal Murray jumper to tie the score with 8.8 seconds left to play in regulation. New Orleans failed to answer, sending the game into overtime.
Dejounte Murray opened the extra five minutes with a jumper, but Denver countered with plenty of Murray and Jokic to go up by four with 1:32 remaining. New Orleans would get no closer than two points the rest of the way, as the Pels suffered another heartbreaking loss.
The Pelicans will be off until the day after Christmas when they play the front end of another back-to-back against the Houston Rockets.
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