Nuggets swarm Heat, reach 40 wins

Nikola Jokic was devilishly efficient, ending the night with 27 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists

The Denver Nuggets need double as an infirmary report for only one more game.

Despite the dual absences of Jamal Murray (knee inflammation) and Aaron Gordon (rib contusion), the Nuggets hung on beat the Heat, 112-108, on Monday night in Florida, improving to 40-18 on the season. It’s the first time in franchise history they’ve reached 40 wins before the Allstar break.

Murray’s missed five consecutive games with a balky right knee, and with just one game left before the All-star break (Wednesday vs. Dallas), it doesn’t make much sense for him to return for only a game. A rest through the All-star break would grant him almost three weeks off.

But the Nuggets still had a game to play even without their second- and third-best players.

Nikola Jokic was devilishly efficient, ending the night with 27 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists on 12-of-14 shooting. Six other players scored in double-figures, and the Nuggets got numerous winning plays from Vlatko Cancar, Christian Braun and Michael Porter Jr. late in the fourth.

Whether it was effort on the glass, hands in the passing lanes or a crucial block, all ensured the Nuggets ended the road trip 2-1 and improved to 14-14 overall on the road.

Here’s what mattered:

Sizzling in South Beach

The Heat entered Monday as the NBA’S leading interior defense, conceding just 44.9 points per game inside. Conversely, Miami was only 21st in the NBA at opponent 3-point shooting percentage at 36.5%. The Nuggets took advantage of both Monday.

Denver dropped 58 points in the paint, which is where Jokic did all of his damage. That was the heart of it, but Cancar, Braun and Bruce Brown each wedged their way inside, too. The Nuggets’ 34 assists were fundamental to their interior advantage.

Beyond that, Porter, Brown and Kentavious Caldwell-pope rained in 3-pointers. Porter led the pack with five of them, spacing the floor perfectly in transition or in half-court sets. Brown buried three, while Caldwell-pope nailed two. Denver shot 39% from 3-point range.

New addition

Thomas Bryant picked up two fouls on the defensive end within the first minute of his shift. If there was a concern with Bryant, it was how he’d hold up defensively inside. Bam Adebayo, one of the toughest covers in the NBA for opposing centers, made him work and exposed some of those shortcomings.

But Bryant recovered nicely on the other end. His effort

and touch around the rim were impressive, as was his motor. On one sequence, he offered a strong contest on Miami guard Gabe Vincent, then sprinted the floor to establish a position on him deep in the post. He was rewarded for his effort when Ish Smith fed him down low. Bryant ended the first half with eight points in eight minutes. His frontcourt counterpart, Jeff Green, tallied eight points in the first half, too. Staggering with Caldwell-pope, the bench unit found some rhythm and went to halftime all in the positive of plus/minus.

Though they struggled to hold the lead late in the third and early in the fourth, Denver’s bench amassed 34 points. Bryant had 10 of them in what amounted to a strong debut.

Normally, that unit will be led by Murray, but even with Caldwell-pope spreading the floor, it found success. If Denver’s bench unit became more reliable at the trade deadline, the Nuggets just got even more formidable.

Jokic wizardry

It’s difficult to find new ways to describe Jokic’s dominance, but here’s one: Jokic excels at using his frame to create an angle.

When passes get delivered inside (and that wasn’t always the case against the Heat), Jokic will often wait an extra second even if he has an angle on the basket. He does it to bait the defender into a foul. Though he can score when he wants to, he’ll never compromise the chance at making a good play great. His ploy worked seamlessly late in the first half. When the referees disagreed with his trick a few possessions later, he argued and was dealt a technical foul.