Nuggets ease past Pelicans
denver — The Denver Nuggets followed their worst offensive performance of the season with one that will certainly be hard to top.
Jamal Murray scored 31 points and the Nuggets had the NBA’s highest-scoring game of the season in a 146-114 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday night.
Denver surpassed the 142 points Houston scored against Phoenix just one night earlier for the highest total in the league this season. It was also Denver’s most points in a regulation game since it had 168 in a win over the Seattle SuperSonics in March of 2008.
“If we’re moving the ball like that and everybody touches it — and we’re cutting, moving and finding the open guy and making shots — we could do that every night,” said Murray, whose team looked far different from its 9982 loss to Portland on Monday.
Nikola Jokic added 13 points and 11 rebounds for his eighth double-double of the season as the Nuggets improved to 7-2 at the Pepsi Center. Gary Harris had 22 points in his return after a two-game absence with right shoulder soreness.
Anthony Davis had 17 points and five rebounds for New Orleans before he left the game with a concussion in the opening minute of the third quarter.
Davis was inadvertently hit in the face by Jokic’s head as the Nuggets center was backing him down with the ball. “I don’t want (anybody) to get injured because of me,” Jokic said. “I hope he’s good. I didn’t do it on purpose.”
New Orleans coach Alvin Gentry couldn’t provide any details of Davis’ injury after the game.
“I don’t know yet,” Gentry said. “I have to check with doctors.”
The Pelicans trailed by as many as 27 points in the opening quarter but pulled within 66-58 on Davis’ jumper seconds before he went down with the injury.
The Nuggets took advantage of the Pelicans without their AllStar big man and outscored them 40-22 the rest of the way in the third. Emmanuel Mudiay’s 3-pointer before the buzzer made it 106-80. “You just got to keep playing no matter who’s in there,” Pelicans guard E’Twaun Moore said. — AP