The Denver Nuggets started the game in a hole by handing a quick bucket to Milwaukee Bucks striker Khris Middleton from 3 points before Jamal Murray hit a float. Giannis Antetokounmpo was fouled before making both free throws. After a crash in Denver’s last second, Monte Morris blocked Middleton’s shot off limits. He immediately took revenge with a make along the baseline.
Another Denver mistake turned into a transition opportunity for Giannis, and Porter was forced to miss Giannis in the block, giving him two in the first 110 seconds of the game. Giannis lost a pair before a Morris make-up scored again. Giannis had a big dunk before a Will Barton triple, but Giannis was having his way swapping buckets with the Nuggets before Nikola Jokic hit his score by going inside the painting with a small hook fired by a foul that turned into a 3 points Touch.
Murray was fouled following a Milwaukee failure. Out of the game on the pitch, he shot back over his head when the shot clock was expiring. After Barton’s failure, Porter and Jokic went to the boards, where Jokic was tipped to go for a 16-13 lead and force a Bucks timeout. Out of the time limit, Giannis missed a 3-point shot, but the Nuggets deflected for an easy dunk by the twice MVP.
Barton went straight to the ring for an easy tray. After a loss from Patt Connaughton, Jokic was called on a trip. The two sides were exchanging empty goods before Jokic denounced his own mistake. After a pass on the field, Bryn Forbes landed a 3-point shot before Barton managed to get another jumper to fall. A failure by Giannis did not earn any points due to a Morris turn.
The two sides exchanged errors before Connaughton got a triple to bring the Bucks inside one. Morris hit a tray under the cup. Denver managed to steal a ball, but ex-Nuggets Torrey Craig closed PJ Dozier’s counterattack with a big block on the edge that led to Denver’s timeout. Out of time, Morris hit a tray from a Jokic feed to increase the lead to five.
After a mistake by Craig, Jokic hit a float in the painting. The two sides exchanged errors before PJ Dozier made a foul before converting the 3-point play on the line. Donte DiVincenzo turned the ball over, which ended up as a tray by Zeke Nnaji, before Middleton ended a long Denver streak with a mid-range jumper. Dozier came right back to him with a jumpsuit of his own. A Milwaukee foul gave Denver final possession of the fourth, which Murray switched to a 20-foot jumper to give them a 14-point lead to end the first.
Out of the fourth interval, Middleton dropped a triple after a Denver failure before Murray hit a 3-point shot on his own. Giannis was fouled by Isaiah Hartenstein driving to the edge. He hit 1 of 2 free throws before Vlatko Čančar missed a bad 3-point shot. Empty possessions and sales abounded before Nnaji fell into a mistake by Murray, which resulted in a Milwaukee timeout reduced by 15 with 9:28 for the second quarter.
The two sides exchanged the empty goods ahead of time before Murray had a chance to fall through some contact from Connaughton who sent him to the line where he converted the 3-point play. After a couple of offensive rebounds, Brook Lopez managed an easy tray to go, but Barton quickly matched it with a weak jump from the bottom line. Empty possessions were plentiful before Porter finally got a triple to fall, which gave Denver a 50-29 lead with 5:41 remaining in the quarter.
After a Bucks timeout, Jrue Holiday got his first points in the night with an elbow. Somehow, Jokic was not missed, despite being beaten, and Giannis managed an easy dunk on the other side, after a poor recovery from Denver. Out of time, Milwaukee scored after a crash in Denver before Morris got a floater to fall. Connaughton hit a triple in the corner kick, and the Nuggets lead fell to 14 before Murray hit a left-wing pogo stick. Giannis made an easy dunk before Jokic was shamelessly pushed.
Denver scored the pass on the field. After a Milwaukee failure, Murray attempted a big dunk at Brook Lopez, but was knocked down before hitting both free throws. Lopez put in a dunk and, after a failure in Denver, DJ Augustin was fouled by making a 3-point shot that turned into a 4-point move on the line. With just 12 points ahead, Jokic hit a shot from the right wing to regain the advantage.
Giannis hit a couple of free throws. After Morris’s failure, Giannis entered an easy tray to place them within 10. Vlatko managed an offensive rebound when he was knocked down, and he took both free throws in the process. After Lopez’s failure, Barton found Jokic for a bucket with 4.6 remaining, and the Nuggets entered the break carrying 64-50 on the road.
Denver hit a triple at halftime before the Bucks got a two-point mark. After Porter’s failure, Middleton was fouled when attempting to kick an offensive rebound and hit 1 of 2 free throws. Jokic had a bucket before Denver received an offensive foul from Milwaukee. Jokic followed up with a big 3-point shot before being summoned for a foul on DiVincenzo. Donte took down both free throws before the two sides exchanged turns.
Porter hit a big dunk after Barton was fouled, but Lopez was knocked under the basket by Porter, who gave him four in the night with 21:09 minutes to go. Lopez hit both free throws before Jokic missed a 3-point shot. The fight for a lost ball ended up in Lopez’s hands for an easy tray. After a Denver timeout, Morris missed a 3-point shot before Giannis hit a mid-range shot that left Milwaukee at 13, before Barton hit a triple to give them more breathing space.
Coming in the opposite direction, Giannis placed a dunk. Donte rescued the Nuggets after a bad turn with an open error before Jokic hit a contested tray. Vlatko missed DiVincenzo on a tray and hit both kicks on the charity strip. Murray hit Lopez with a hesitant dribble that gave him an easy run before Antetokounmpo hit the other on the other end. Vlatko managed an offensive rebound, which secured two easy points.
Denver missed a shot with a long rebound, and that turned into Augustin’s long 3-point mark. After exchanging errors, Jokic cashed a triple with 3:57 remaining to stretch the lead back to 17. Leaving a time limit, Bobby Portis rolled over Vlatko to get the free kick and get to the line. He hit both, and Dozier hit a triple immediately to recover the points and a few more. Holiday turned the ball over, which led Barton to assist Dozier, who was fouled on the tray, but he failed to convert the 3-point play.
Vlatko stole the ball in the next possession, but Denver failed to convert it into points. Middleton hit a pair of free throws. Although Jokic received a foul, Denver turned the ball over and Forbes took a 3-point shot on the other end of the line. Murray hit a medium-range jumper before he was stolen by Nnaji. Jokic was knocked down by Holiday at the end of the clock and went to the line where he landed a perfect 2 of 2.
Middleton hit a triple on the other end with just under 1:00 left. With 38.7 remaining, Jokic had a great dunk, but Middleton was fouled almost immediately, leading to two free points on the line. Jokic hit an offensive rebound on his own mistake, and resulted in aces when Nnaji received a late hint to give Denver a 99-80 lead in the fourth period.
Giannis started the fourth half in a hurry, with a trip to the free throw line, where he hit both shots. A mistake by Murray was the other way for a quick hit by Pat, and the Bucks started running. The two sides exchanged errors before Murray was forced to triple at the end of the clock that missed. After that foul, Dozier was called to the goalkeeper, which led to a timeout of just 13 for Denver.
Out of time, Murray landed a difficult kick on Giannis’s outstretched hand before Dozier was called for a foul while guarding Middleton. Middleton did 1 of 2 on the line before Nnaji was called on a trip while lifting his pivot foot. With Milwaukee within 14, Porter hit a rainbow by a triple, but he was quickly called in for a foul on the other side that gave him five in the night.
Milwaukee was rescued due to some calls, but they failed to score, despite their extra possessions. Jokic was knocked down by Giannis while bringing the ball up. Off the field, he landed a spinning shot on the free-throw line before scoring a shot to increase the lead to 21 and force Bucks to call for a break. Portis took down a timeout jumper. Murray was called on for a foul on Lopez when he got too aggressive in a rebound attempt that put the Bucks in the bonus with 7:08 remaining.
Lopez hit both shots, but Jokic hit them back immediately with one of his own. Porter launched a contested 3-point shot that missed, but got away with a block in Portis that ended up in Murray’s hands. Murray hit Dozier in the cup, and Denver led 21 with 5:39 remaining. The losses on both sides were followed by a lack of dozier before the Bucks emptied its bank to officially give up the white flag.
Holiday missed a couple of free throws before Jokic was knocked under the cup. Jokic hit a couple of free throws and was forced to become aggressive after Porter’s mistake in getting a rebound. Jokic grabbed a rebound to give him his ninth triple-double in the night, and both sides were ending when Jokic threw another dunk to give him 37. A Forbes treble brought the Bucks inside 19, but Denver was getting ready to empty the bank when Morris hit another tray. With 2:16 left, it was officially closed with all reservations on the floor.
Dozier managed to get some jumpers to fall in the trash to hopefully build now that he is healthy. Bol Bol hit a triple of the wing to give him some points. Another 3-point mark from Dozier extended the final score to 128-97, which gave the Bucks their biggest home loss of all time, giving Denver a huge boost of confidence with just one game remaining before the All- break. Star.
Statistics leaders
Spots: Nikola Jokic – 37
Assists: Jokic – 11
Rebounds: Jokic – 10
Game player: Nikola Jokic – 37 points, 11 assists, 10 rebounds, 2 steals, 15 of 23 pitches, 2 of 3, 3 points, 5 of 5 free throws