Nuggets notch record streak, move up in the standings
Feb 20, 2025, 9:51 PM
Behind a barrage of three-point shots, the Denver Nuggets got past the Charlotte Hornets on Thursday night for a ninth-straight win, moving up to second place in the West in the process.
It was another wild night from the three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic, who shot a career-high 14 triples, making six. He scorched for a Sombor-Double of 29 points, 17 rebounds and nine assists as Jamal Murray stayed hot to the tune of 34 points on 12 of 18 from the field.
Jamal: 4 3PM in the 1Q
Joker: 4 3PM in the 1QThe Nuggets duo is firing to begin action in Denver đź—» pic.twitter.com/41NJr7Iiu3
— NBA (@NBA) February 21, 2025
The duo got a splash of Julian Strawther too, who added 16 off the bench on four makes from deep. The Nuggets also had 18 points from Aaron Gordon, as the starting five with a healthy Russell Westbrook coming off the bench was put together for the first time since Christmas. Christian Braun was a team-high plus-23, while Michael Porter Jr. struggled to shoot but collected 11 rebounds. Though Denver was still without Peyton Watson, the health boon tightened up Michael Malone’s rotation but he kept with playing Zeke Nnaji and DeAndre Jordan off the bench.
On the other side was a shorthanded Hornets group, who played in Los Angeles on Wednesday. They were without starters LaMelo Ball and Mark Williams. They gave it a good fight, even taking the lead in the second half before running out of gas.
The Nuggets were definitely rusty especially when Jokic was on the pine.
Through their rust, the rested Nuggets kept their win streak alive—now standing at nine games. That’s tied for the most wins consecutively Denver has recorded with Malone at the helm and Jokic on the roster. They’ll go for a new record of 10 when they host LeBron James, Luka Doncic and the Lakers for the first time all together in a nationally televised game Saturday evening.
“It beats the alternative, that’s what it means, Malone said. “I’d rather win nine in a row than lose nine in a row, and this is coming off of a three-game losing streak. So now I don’t know what it says about us. I don’t think we played great tonight… as far as a nine-game win streak this time of year, it’s really important to stack wins. That’s the most important thing. Whether you played great, you didn’t play great, we won, and there’s a lot to clean up… our schedule coming up is a bear, and we’ll take it one game at a time.”
Because of number nine for the Nuggets and a loss by the Memphis Grizzlies earlier in the night, the Nuggets are now second in the West—eight games back of the first-place Oklahoma City Thunder.
