For the first times since 2010, the Denver Nuggets had two representatives participating in the NBA All-Star Game – or Games – in three-time MVP Nikola Jokic and star guard Jamal Murray, who was making his first ASG appearance. They dynamic duo – who’ve formed one of the NBA’s best tandems over the past decade – both started for the World Team in the debut of the three-team, round-robin format.

Between 2011 and 2019, Denver did not have a single player make the All-Star team. Until this season, Jokic had been the organization’s lone representative for the past seven seasons.

The New Format Pumped up the Competitive Juices

The notoriously non-competitive NBA All-Star game was anything but this time, with the participants playing hard on both ends of the court. Team Stars ended up besting Team Stripes for the championship after each USA squad had edged the favored World Team by a single bucket in the first two 12-minute contests.

Both Murray and Jokic went scoreless in the first game against the USA’s Stars team. Joker only played five minutes and missed his only shot. Murray, meanwhile, played a lot of minutes in place of injured starter and fellow Canadian Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Murray was a frustrating 0-6 from the floor in the first game, but bounced back with a pair of three pointers and eight points in the second game, another last second loss, this one to Team Stripes.

Jokic didn’t play in the second game, opting to rest his knee after missing 16 games in December and January. It’s fair to wonder if the results of the round robin mini-tournament would have been different if he, plus the Los Angeles Lakers Luka Dončić – who also started and played just five minutes while nursing a sore hamstring and Milwaukee’s former MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, out with a calf strain – had been full go.

Can a Healthy Nuggets Squad Remain in a Top Three Playoff Position?

Regardless, the question for Denver Nuggets fans is now simple: How will the All-Star experience translate into the resumption of the NBA regular season? Denver opens the final stanza of the season in Los Angeles against the red-hot Clippers next Thursday. Joker will be Joker, regardless. Perhaps Murray can build off his positive performance in the second game when he puts a Nuggets jersey back on?

Both All-Stars will get some much deserved rest before the resumption of the schedule, which has 25 games left for Denver. The Nuggets will need both stars to be healthy if Denver is going to hold onto a top three seed in the competitive Western Conference.

The All-Star weekend showed Nuggets fans a couple of other things as well. First, the San Antonio Spurs, who lead Denver by 3 1/2 games for second place in the Western Conference standings, are going to be a problem. Spurs center Victor Wembanyama had 33 points in the two 12-minute All-Star contests and was the most dominant force on the court at both ends. His young San Antonio teammate De’Aron Fox hit the game winning three-pointer for the Stripes team against the Stars in Game two.

The other thing is that the Nuggets rivalry with the Minnesota Timberwolves isn’t dead. After the end of the mini-tournament, T-Wolves Most Valuable Player Anthony Edwards of Team Stripes called out Jokic and Dončić for their lack of participation in the games. No doubt Joker will remember that comment when the two teams meet again on March 1^st in Denver.

Mark Knudson Mark is a former MLB pitcher for the Houston Astros, Milwaukee Brewers and Colorado Rockies. He’s the only person ever to play high school, college and professional baseball in Colorado. Mark earned a BA in Technical Journalism from Colorado State University and has worked in radio, television and print sports media since 1994. He’s the co-author of “Pitching to the Corners” with former teammate Don August and the author of “Just Imagine,” a historical fiction novel about The Beatles.
Mark is currently a feature writer and columnist for Mile High Sports in Denver and recently joined the team at Heavy.com. Mark is also a high school baseball coach in the Denver area. More about Mark Knudson