Short-Handed Nuggets Show Championship Grit in New Orleans 122-116
You find out a lot about a team when the best player on the planet isn’t in the lineup.
When Nikola Jokic went down with a hyperextended knee two weeks ago, the collective breath of the Mile High City hitched. The timeline is four weeks. That is a lifetime in the NBA. But on Tuesday night in the Big Easy, the Denver Nuggets proved that while Jokic is their engine, the rest of the parts are far from broken.
Behind a masterful 35-point performance from Jamal Murray and a career-defining night from Peyton Watson, the Nuggets walked into the Smoothie King Center and wrestled a 122-116 victory away from the New Orleans Pelicans. It wasn’t always pretty—road wins in this league rarely are—but it was the kind of gutsy, character-building win that separates contenders from the pack.
Jamal Murray Reminds Everyone Who He Is
With the offense needing a focal point, Jamal Murray stepped into the void. Murray didn’t just score; he orchestrated. He finished with 35 points and nine assists, dissecting the Pelicans’ defense with the precision of a surgeon.
It was his play in the fourth quarter that truly sealed the deal. When the game was teetering on the edge, Murray went to work. He poured in 12 points in the final frame, going a perfect 3-for-3 from the field, including two massive 3-pointers that sucked the life out of the New Orleans crowd. He played the entire final eight minutes, refusing to let his team slide.
There’s a specific cadence to Murray’s game when he’s locked in—a mix of fluidity and lethal intent. We saw that on Tuesday. He had 11 points in the first quarter to set the tone, but his closing kick was what mattered most. When the Pelicans tried to trap him, he found the open man. When they sagged, he punished them from deep. It was a captain’s knock.
Peyton Watson Is Arriving Before Our Eyes
If Murray was the steady hand, Peyton Watson was the spark that turned into an inferno. Fresh off being named the Western Conference Player of the Week, Watson didn’t just ride the momentum; he accelerated it.
With the score knotted at 114 and the clock ticking under a minute, the game was up for grabs. In moments like that, you expect the ball to go to the veteran, Murray. Instead, it was Watson who rose up. He drilled a tiebreaking jumper with 39 seconds left that found the bottom of the net and silenced the arena. It was a shot made with the confidence of a ten-year vet, not a young player still carving out his legacy.
Watson’s second quarter was equally absurd—he went 6-for-6 for 15 points, single-handedly keeping the Nuggets afloat when the offense briefly stagnated. We aren’t just watching a role player develop anymore; we are watching a legitimate star emerge in real-time.
Nuggets Defense Clamps Down Late
For all the offensive fireworks, this game was won on the defensive end in the fourth quarter. The Nuggets entered the final period trailing, having surrendered 34 points in the second quarter and 27 in the third. The Pelicans, desperate to snap a losing streak, were feeling good.
But Denver flipped the switch.
They held New Orleans to just 24 points in the fourth quarter. Aaron Gordon, who finished with 16 points and eight rebounds, was everywhere defensively. He did the dirty work that doesn’t always show up in the box score—fighting through screens, switching onto smaller guards, and battling for position against a Pelicans team that outrebounded the Nuggets 50-33.
After Watson’s go-ahead bucket, the defense forced a stop, leading to an Aaron Gordon basket that pushed the lead to four. From there, it was a parade to the free-throw line, where Murray iced the game with 8.6 seconds remaining.
Pelicans Spiraling Despite Murphy’s Heroics
The Pelicans have dropped to 9-33 on the season, losing for the 11th time in 12 games. It’s a tailspin that seems to have no bottom.
It wasn’t for a lack of effort from Trey Murphy III, who matched Watson shot-for-shot with 31 points of his own. Murphy was electric in the first half, scoring 22 points and helping New Orleans take a 65-60 lead into the break. But the help just wasn’t there when it mattered.
Zion Williamson struggled to assert his dominance, finishing with just 12 points and seven rebounds. For a player of his caliber, in a game that was there for the taking, that production simply wasn’t enough to combat the two-headed monster of Murray and Watson.
What This Win Means for the Nuggets
This victory moves the Nuggets to 27-13 on the season. They’ve now won four of their last five games, effectively stabilizing the ship after dropping the first two games of the new year.
More importantly, they are surviving the “Jokic-less” minutes. It’s easy to win when the MVP is tossing no-look passes. It’s much harder to grind out a win on a Tuesday night in New Orleans when you’re getting killed on the boards, and the home team is shooting nearly 38% from three.
The Nuggets head to Dallas next to face the Mavericks on Wednesday. It’s a back-to-back, and the legs will be heavy. But if Tuesday night showed us anything, it’s that this team has the heart of a champion, regardless of who is suiting up.
