The Denver Nuggets looked terrible early, falling behind by as many as 23 points before rallying with an 80-point second half to defeat the Atlanta Hawks 134-133. Nikola Jokic was terrible in the first half, going 2-for-13 from the field but rallied to put up 40 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists on 50% shooting. Jamal Murray was clutch, leading much of a 20-0 rally with Jokic on the bench in the fourth quarter and putting up 23 points with 12 assists and 5 boards. Tim Hardaway Jr. and Bruce Brown combined for 30 points, and Cam Johnson had 16 as Denver put just enough on the scoreboard to get the win.

For the Hawks, Jalen Johnson had a triple-double in the first half and finished with a monster 21 point / 18 rebound / 16 assist night, while Nickeil Alexander-Walker let the team with 30 points and Kristaps Porzingis had 25 in 20 minutes. Even with 15 points on 5 threes from Vit Krejci, the Hawks just couldn’t stop Denver in the second half as the Nuggets paid back Atlanta’s hot first-half shooting with a half of their own and completed the third-largest comeback in Nuggets history.

Game Flow

Dyson Daniels opened the scoring at the rim for Atlanta and Onyeka Okongwu buried a triple, while Cam Johnson missed a pair of jumpers for Denver. Denver’s defense forced a 24-second violation and Jokic finished at the rim, then Cam got a steal and transition layup. Jokic got a rebound on a missed Cam three and turned it into a Peyton Watson dunk, but Atlanta hit a pair of threes in response. Jamal answered with one of his own, then traded layups with Nickeil Alexander-Walker and it was 13-11 Atlanta early. The Hawks added a pair of rim finishes to their early three point shooting and Denver had to regroup with a timeout. Jamal made a Jokic-assisted layup but Zaccharie Risacher had a layup of his own. Atlanta hit two more threes, on absolute fire from the field, while Nikola Jokic made a hot but missed three others. The Nuggets took another timeout down 29-15 to try to get it right on both ends. Tim Hardaway Jr. finally made Denver’s second deep shot of the night (against 6 early misses so far), but Vit Krejci hit yet another 3 for the Hawks. Atlanta went 16-for-21 in the first quarter, blowing the doors off while Denver went 10-for-28. Jokic had his shot blocked in the final seconds by Kristaps Porzingis and Denver trailed 41-23 at the end of a dismal quarter,

Hardaway made three free throws for Denver but Krejci had another deep make for Atlanta. Zeke Nnaji had a paint bucket, Krejci made another 3, and Bruce Brown answered with a transition finish. Okongwu and Jonas Valanciunas exchanged layups, Brown got a layup for Denver and Jalen Johnson traded buckets with Big Val. But unfortunately Krejci and NAW both made threes for the Hawks to put Atlanta up 21 at 57-38. Denver had a couple of bad turnovers under the basket, but Peyton Watson got a nice cut and finished a Jokic pass. Walker scored right back on them though as Denver just didn’t have the hustle or the shot-making to get close. Jamal got a steal then immediately turned it back over to give Atlanta a 23 point lead. Jokic was ice cold from everywhere, going 2-for-13 in the half and 0-for-6 from deep, and that caused big problems for the Nuggets. Spencer Jones had a paint finish, Watson hit a 3, and Jokic got himself to the line at least to make some from the charity stripe. At halftime Denver still trailed 73-54 though.