The Nuggets officially reached the midway point of the season with Friday's 133-113 win over the Heat on Friday in Miami.
Here are three takeaways from Denver's 25-16 start to the season:
1. The Nuggets' two most important players are off to typical starts. Nikola Jokic, who entered the 2023 Finals rematch averaging 30.6 points, 13.2 rebounds and 9.9 assists this season, has found a way to be even better in his 10th NBA season. Jamal Murray, who has a history of starting slow and finding his rhythm around this time of year, continued his hot streak against the Heat. Jokic bolstered his case to be a four-time Most Valuable Player with 24 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists, while making 9 of 12 shots from the field and not playing in the fourth quarter. Two games after scoring 45 points in Dallas, Murray dropped 30 points, on 12-of-24 shooting, and added eight assists, seven rebounds, three steals and a block without committing a turnover. When those two are playing like that, there's little that stands in Denver's way of being a championship contender.
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2. Aaron Gordon's calf strains have made it difficult to gauge what, if anything, Denver's roster is missing a couple of weeks before the Feb. 6 trade deadline. Friday's game was just the 20th Gordon has played in this season with four of those appearances coming off the bench as he works back from minutes restrictions. To this point, the only consistently glaring issue has been a lack of productivity from Denver's group of reserve centers. Gordon can handle those minutes in close postseason games, so it might not be worth giving up much to bring in another reserve big. Gordon took a step toward his regular role, playing 22 minutes off the bench Friday. He led Denver's reserves with 16 points, six rebounds and three assists.
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3. Calvin Booth went 1 for 2 with his veteran acquisitions this season. Russell Westbrook has been nothing short of a revelation for the Nuggets, while Dario Saric, simply put, has been a disappointment. Westbrook is making a strong case to maintain his spot in Denver's starting five even when Gordon is fully up to speed. After playing regular minutes to start the season, Saric has only been an option when multiple members of Denver's frontcourt rotation have been out. Westbrook has started more games (20) than Saric has appeared in (13) this season. Westbrook's providing great value on his $3.3 million contract, while giving Saric the taxpayer mid-level exception worth $5.2 million is looing like a mistake. Westbrook posted 11 points and seven assists without a turnover, while Saric was the only active Nuggets player who did not play in Miami. Both have player options for next season, which could be bad news for Booth and the Nuggets if Westbrook explores other opportunities and Saric opts in.
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NUGGETS 133, HEAT 113
What happened: Denver led by six after the first quarter and extended the lead to 67-55 at halftime. The gap stayed at 12 to start the fourth and a strong stretch from Denver's second unit to start the fourth quarter helped put the game away.
What went right: The Nuggets played one of their cleaner offensive games of the season. Denver had committed just four turnovers when the regular rotation players checked out in the final minutes and finished the game with six. That helped Denver outscore Miami 10-4 in points off turnovers.
What went wrong: There were only two areas where Miami was better than Denver. The Heat finished with a 62-58 advantage in points in the paint, and Miami's bench also outscored Denver's 47-42.
Highlight of the night: Nikola Jokic recorded another triple-double in flashy fashion. After catching a long outlet pass from Peyton Watson with two Heat defenders in pursuit, Jokic blindly flipped the ball over his head to Aaron Gordon, who trailed the play. Gordon threw down a tomahawk slam to put Denver up 11 in the final minutes of the third quarter.
Up next: The Nuggets stay in Florida for Sunday's game against the Magic in Orlando.