The New Orleans Pelicans didn’t have to face three-time MVP Nikola Jokic when the Denver Nuggets came to town Tuesday night.
But interim head coach James Borrego warned before the game that the Pelicans would still have “our hands full” with a team that would play “super aggressive” without Jokic, who leads the league in rebounding (12.2) and assists (11.0) and is fourth in scoring (29.6).
Borrego was right as Denver improved to 5-3 since Jokic was sidelined by a bone bruise in his right knee by edging New Orleans 122-116 in a back-and-forth game that wasn’t decided until the final seconds in the Smoothie King Center.
“They made some tough shots,” Borrego said afterward. “We had some good looks at the rim. We’ve got to keep working on our execution down the stretch.”
Jamal Murray, who averages 25.3 points for the Nuggets (27-13), nearly matched that in the second half, scoring 24 of his game-high 35 points after halftime. Peyton Watson added 31 points, falling one point shy of the career-high he set in the last game between these teams.
Tim Hardaway Jr. added 18 points and Aaron Gordon and Jalen Pickett scored 16 each. Former Pelicans center Jonas Valanciunas missed his seventh consecutive game because of a right calf strain.
Trey Murphy III scored 31, Saddiq Bey, returning from a six-game absence because of a right hip flexor strain, had 17, Jordan Poole scored 16, Zion Williamson had 12, Derik Queen had 10 points and 13 rebounds and Jeremiah Fears scored 10 for the Pelicans (9-33), who host the Brooklyn Nets at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
“If we make shots down the stretch it’s a different story,” Bey said. “There are no moral victories in this league. It’s an unforgiving league. We have to figure it out. We’ll figure it out.”
Herb Jones, the Pelicans’ best defender who likely would have guarded Murray for much of the game, was sidelined for the 11th time in 12 games because of a right ankle sprain and Jose Alvarado missed his fourth consecutive game because of a left oblique strain.
New Orleans held a 92-89 lead entering the fourth quarter, but Hardaway scored the first five points of the period. That produced the first of nine lead changes before Bey’s dunk tied the score at 112. Murray broke the tie with a jumper with 1:58 left.
Murphy scored on a drive to tie the score, but Watson made a jumper and after Murphy missed on a drive, Murray assisted on Gordon’s dunk to give the Nuggets a 118-114 lead with 10.8 seconds left.
The Pelicans scored the first six points of the third quarter to extend their lead to 71-60. Williamson went to the bench after committing his fourth foul with 6:15 left in the period and the Nuggets closed within four points.
Murphy’s layup and Bey’s tip-in doubled the lead, but Denver crept within three points three times, the last being 92-89 at the end of the quarter.
Williamson missed his last four field-goal attempts and had a turnover down the stretch. Denver outscored New Orleans 33-22 in the fourth quarter, finishing the game on a 16-6 run.
The Pelicans got outscored 37-20 in the fourth quarter of a 128-118 loss at Orlando on Sunday.
“I’m trying to figure out who to have handle (the ball) to close these games,” Borrego said.
The Nuggets swept the season series, having won 122-88 on Oct. 29 in Denver and 125-118 on Nov. 19 in the Smoothie King Center.
The lead changed hands six times and the score was tied six times during the first quarter. Pickett broke the final tie by making a 3-pointer and the Nuggets held a 32-31 lead at the end of the period. Murphy had 12 points and Murray 11.
Hardaway made three free throws to start the second-quarter scoring, but Jordan Hawkins made two 3-pointers and Poole added one during a 19-6 run that gave New Orleans a 50-41 lead.
The Pelicans led by nine twice more before Gordon scored four points to help Denver trim the lead to 65-60 at the half. Murphy matched a first-half season-high of his by scoring 22 points, and the Pelicans allowed zero fast-break points in the first half for the first time this season.