Bennett Durando is the Denver Nuggets beat writer for The Denver Post. Before moving to Colorado, where he started as The Post's Avalanche beat writer, he covered SEC football, basketball and other sports for five years: first reporting on his alma mater, Missouri, for the St.
NEW ORLEANS — The upper deck of Smoothie King Center was almost as sparse as the Nuggets’ and Pelicans’ active rosters for their first NBA Cup game.
New Orleans snapped a six-game losing streak by ending Denver’s five-game winning streak. Brandon Ingram went for 29 points, nine rebounds and seven assists to give the Nuggets a group-stage loss in the second annual in-season tournament. Their next NBA Cup game is Tuesday in Memphis.“He’s good,” acting head coach David Adelman assured reporters. “It’s personal reasons for him. I’ll leave it at that.”“Hopefully soon,” Adelman said.
Adelman recognized the most difficult aspect of filling Malone’s shoes was that “Nikola’s not here” and endeavored to replace the three-time MVP “with a lot of different lineups.” Saric, who was out of the rotation entirely during Denver’s undefeated five-game homestand, returned as a starter. Zeke Nnaji remained in the backup center role. Suddenly, Saric transformed into Jokic, in that his exit from the game immediately resulted in disaster. Denver had started with a 16-9 lead.
The 6-7 wing showed off some good scoring chops, joining Michael Porter Jr. as the only Nuggets in double figures at halftime. But if the Nuggets want to use him as a center in future games without Jokic, it’ll only exacerbate one of the characteristics they miss most about their MVP: rebounding. Porter led the Nuggets with 24 points but only four after halftime. Christian Braun added 15 points and five steals.Gov. Jared Polis cheers RFK Jr.'s nomination for health post despite anti-vaccine statements
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