Denver Beats New Orleans Behind Nikola Jokic’s Eighth Triple Double of the Season

The Denver Nuggets are challenging Golden State in the race for the 1st seed in the NBA Western Conference, despite the Warriors’ current 11 game winning streak. On January 30th, the Nuggets beat the Pelicans in New Orleans 105-99, improving to 35-15 and pulling to within a game of the idle Warriors (36-14).

New Orleans was without five players, four due to injury, including Anthony Davis who was out with a sprained finger. Davis, who has a year left on his contract, has stirred things up by requesting a trade. Despite all the injuries and distractions, the Pelicans (23-29) fought the good fight and had a 56-53 halftime lead, before the Nuggets outscored them 33-19 in the third quarter.

Denver center Nikola Jokic led the way with his eighth triple double of the season. Jokic scored 20 points, grabbed 13 rebounds, and had 10 assists. Jokic, in his fourth NBA season and only 23 years old, is averaging 20.1 points, 10.4 rebounds, and 7.7 assists per game. Monte Morris also scored 20 for Denver, and Malik Beasley came off the bench to score 22.