It was a bit of an adventure, but the Denver Nuggets narrowly avoided what would've been another disappointing loss Sunday in New Orleans.
Here are three takeaways from Denver's 132-129 win that required a 17-point comeback and five minutes of overtime:
1. That game could've been decided a lot earlier if Nikola Jokic played with more of a score-first mentality early. Despite being guarded by rookie Yves Missi, a promising albeit slight prospect, Jokic didn't look interested in scoring even when he had the opportunity for much of the first half.
He scored his first points on a couple of free throws in the final three minutes of the second quarter and finished the first half with six points. He ended the night with another triple-double -- 27 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists -- on 11-of-20 shooting, but a more aggressive approach early could've prevented him from playing nearly 43 minutes on the first night of a back-to-back set.
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2. Michael Malone made the right call closing the game with Russell Westbrook instead of Michael Porter Jr. Porter looked disinterested or a step slow for much of the night.
Denver's starting small forward finished with eight points on 2-of-8 shooting. He grabbed four rebounds and blocked a couple of shots, but any positive production was outweighed by his four turnovers and a handful of disengaged defensive possessions.
The trade talk surrounding the Nuggets, largely centered on a potential Porter deal, can't be easy to play through, but Denver needs a more professional approach from Porter. There's a good reason why he played fewer than 24 minutes while the rest of the starters played more than 35 minutes.
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3. The Nuggets don't win that game without bench contributions from the four reserves who played.
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Westbrook led the way with 21 points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals. Julian Strawther scored 13 points on eight shots and finished the team's best plus-minus mark of plus-20 in 20 minutes of playing time.
Peyton Watson had a couple of highlight blocks to go with five points, five rebounds and five assists, while DeAndre Jordan was serviceable in the non-Jokic minutes.
The bench has been one of the bigger issues throughout the season, but they wouldn't have been at fault if that game went the other way. Performances like that from the second unit give the starters significantly more room for error.
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NUGGETS 132, PELICANS 129, OT
What happened: The Nuggets trailed by one after the first quarter and fell behind 67-59 at halftime. New Orleans stretched the lead to 12 after three quarters, but Denver forced overtime, thanks to Jamal Murray's one-footed jumper with nine seconds to go. Nikola Jokic and Murray carried the Nuggets through overtime to improve to 15-11.
What went right: After a rough game in Portland, Aaron Gordon bounced back Sunday afternoon. After scoring two points against the Trail Blazers, Gordon scored 17 points on 12 shots and grabbed eight rebounds.
What went wrong: The Nuggets turned it over 11 times in the first half, leading to 14 Pelicans points before halftime. Denver finished with 22 turnovers, resulting in 27 points for the Pelicans.
Highlight of the night: Murray hit another big shot in the final seconds of regulation. With Denver down two in the final 20 seconds, Murray rejected a Jokic screen, dribbled out of a double team, and hit a one-footed jumper to tie the game with nine seconds. Murray matched Jokic's 27 points to share the team-high.
Up next: The Nuggets flew back to Denver for Monday's game against the Suns.