Wizards stun Nuggets at Ball Arena
Turnover-prone Denver suffers home defeat
DENVER — For the second time in eight days, the Washington Wizards left the Denver Nuggets disgusted.
Facu Campazzo missed an open 3-pointer from the wing that would’ve given the Nuggets the win at the buzzer. Instead, the Wizards escaped Ball Arena with a 112-110 win after beating Denver in Washington last week. The loss dropped the Nuggets to 17-15 with a fourgame road trip, beginning Saturday in Oklahoma City, awaiting.
Jamal Murray had 13 of his 34 points in the fourth quarter, and Nikola Jokic added 24. Starting at power for ward again, Michael Por - ter Jr. registered 18 points and 10 rebounds.
But the Nuggets, once again, suffered from self-inflicted errors. The Nuggets had 18 turnovers in the loss.
Bradley Beal and Russell Westbrook combined for 49 points in the win.
Both offenses cooked in the third quarter, though each team found vastly different methods to pay-dirt. Jokic and Murray each knocked down three 3-pointers as part of a thirdquarter deluge. Porter and Monte Morris added two more triples to aid Denver’s 34-point outburst.
In contrast, the Wizards got whatever they wanted inside. Whether off turnovers or simply insufficient defense, Washington poured in 22 points in the paint in the quarter alone. Denver’s five turnovers only greased the wheels. By the time it was over, the Nuggets found themselves in another dogfight against the Wizards, tied 88-all heading into the fourth.
Following Tuesday’s win over Portland — where Murray scored 19 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter — Denver’s point guard was honest about the impact of not making the All-star Game yet again.
“(The snub) carries on for the whole season,” Murray said. “I feel like I was banged up all season, still trying to fight through and play through it. I did OK.
“It’s not my first time not making it, so I’ll always come back next year, come back better, as I do every year,” he added. “Championship is the goal. It’s never, obviously you find some milestones, you miss out on some, but there’s a lot more to achieve this season than just being an All-star.”
In the five games entering Thursday night, Murray had authored a torrid stretch. He’d led the Nuggets with 32.8 points per game, including nearly five 3-pointers per game on 54% 3-point shooting.
The reality, though, was his surge came too late into the first half of the season.
“Joker’s in the All-star Game and he’s going to represent us well,” Malone said.
Given how disjointed parts of the first half were, the Nuggets were fortunate to be down just 56-54 at the break. Similar to their loss in Washington eight days ago, the turnovers were glaring. The Nuggets coughed it up 10 times – twice the miscues the Wizards had.
But because of Jokic, Murray and Porter, the Nuggets hung around, even momentarily taking the lead in the second quar ter. Jokic had 13 points and eight rebounds, dominating Mo Wagner in the paint in the first half.