Subscribe
Follow Us
The Denver Nuggets faced the Brooklyn Nets on Friday, and signs of the game's physicality were noticed on screen. Big man Nikola Jokic in particular, suffered a deep gash in his forearm, causing blood to spill on his jersey.
Nikola Jokić with a deep gash, blood all over his jersey, and only shot 4 FREE THROWS ALL GAME‼️ pic.twitter.com/gZ4HQ92tPn
— 🐍 (@CampaignJoker) December 23, 2023
Thankfully for Jokic, the Nuggets were able to prevail in the hard-fought game. In front of a loud Brooklyn crowd, the game went down to the wire, with no team giving an inch until the final buzzer.
Nuggets fend off Nets in a thrilling finish
With two and a half minutes remaining in the game, Denver clung to a one-point lead, 106-105. A right-wing three-pointer by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope extended the lead to four. In response, Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie drilled a three-pointer himself to bring the lead back down to a point.
Jamal Murray then hit a pull-up jumper to extend the lead once again. The Nets answered, with Mikal Bridges converting a layup on the other end.
Murray and Peyton Watson would finally give Denver breathing room, as a floater from the former and dunk from the latter extended the Nuggets lead to five, 115-110 with 25 seconds remaining. However, the Nets would not relent, as Cam Thomas drained a three-pointer plus a foul shot to successfully finish a four-point play and trim the lead to a point once again. In the last 18 seconds, free throws were the decider of the game, as the Nuggets sank seven shots from the charity stripe to take the win.
Murray finished the game with 32 points while Jokic added 31 points and 11 rebounds, breaking the franchise rebounding record and cementing himself as as the Nuggets' all-time leading rebounder. Denver takes on the Charlotte Hornets next before a highly anticipated matchup with the Golden State Warriors on Christmas Day.
Nikola Jokic may have been bloodied, but on nights like this, some wounds could be worth remembering.
