Once again the Denver Nuggets found their list unguarded as they faced New Orleans pelicans in their second scrimmage. Unlike their first contest, the long lineup in Denver found itself exposed too often on the perimeter, fell behind early and never recovered. Bol Bol once again had flashes of brilliance, but he also fought more from the field. The final score doesn’t really matter in these exhibition games, but it’s heavily inclined in favor of New Orleans.
Bol wasted no time picking up where he left off, opening the game with a three who barely tickled the bottom of the net. At first the Nuggets found many opportunities on the offensive glass, but fought to defend themselves on the perimeter, which was no surprise, given the size of their initial formation. The pelicans shot down several three in advance to fuel an 11-0 race and gained an initial seven point lead. The Nuggets called the timeout and calmed things down while the pelicans struggled with the turnovers. Bol shot down another three, picked up another block, and Denver went back to three. About 4 minutes from the end Bol and Jokic withdrew and the offense of the Nuggets stopped quickly. The pelicans snatched a 12-0 run while Jokic was on the bench. He checked in and Troy Daniels immediately hit a three but the Nuggets were still far behind. After a fourth Denver dragged for thirteen years.
Nuggets’ offense was fairly nonexistent since Nikola was off the pitch again. The Pelicans quickly bring the balloon to 19. Timeout Nuggets, Jokic reinserted and immediately strikes Daniels for an open jumper. Jokic was the key to everything the Nuggets did and it looked like he was starting to get rid of the rust. However, Denver has not been able to make headway on pelicans. With six minutes remaining, the lead had dropped to fifteen, so Denver was slowly cutting. It was evident, however, that they were fighting without their guards. On the other hand the pelicans had cooled down, also they weren’t getting as many three-pronged open glances, so the lead kept decreasing. Without Jokic and Bol back on the field for Denver, even if they failed to bring him back to a single figure. All in all it was a much better defensive performance from Denver and in attack Jokic gave the Nuggets enough. After the half, the Nuggets were down eleven.
The Nuggets kept the gas open to open the second half and were quickly in half a dozen after Bol retired. New Orleans responded and returned the double-digit advantage while Bol made a couple of beginner-type mistakes. Denver called a timeout and brought things back under control, but the pelicans responded by executing the plan that Denver’s “Long Boi” line naturally struggled with. On the positive side, we were treated to a beautiful Jokic pass without a look at a crushed Bol. The pelicans began to enter their deeper bench, but they were still able to make another run as Denver had cooled off from the floor (Jerami Grant was having a hard night off the floor in particular). Mason Plumlee was one of the few that has consistently been successful. He reached the double brace in the third quarter and prevented the game from getting out of hand. Daniels shot down three more with just under a minute left and Denver dropped to ten past three.
The fourth quarter was completely open, with neither team playing particularly well. Daniels still had no trouble knocking out the three, but there wasn’t much else to work for the Nuggets. We were in full Noah Vonleh airing three ball modes. Daniels continued to be Denver’s only truly noteworthy offense and would have ended twenty-eight points overnight. Bol had also become cold from the field. It was an extremely tough watch along the stretch. The NBA has returned to full twelve minutes for this game, which certainly seemed like a mistake for the two and a half minutes of the fourth quarter. Eventually the buzzer sounded and the pelicans scored a fifteen point victory.
