The Denver Nuggets were already down one starter, lost another and were trailing the third-ranked team in the West in a critical NBA Cup clash — put simply, the team had to figure it out on Friday, and behind Nikola Jokic, they did just that, winning 112-109.
The Nuggets are now in their second week without starting shooting guard Christian Braun, and reactivated Aaron Gordon for the clash in Texas after he missed Wednesday in New Orleans as a precaution for his hamstring. Three minutes into Friday’s game, Gordon went down with a right hamstring strain and did not return.
“Me sitting here right now, I have no idea. Like, we’ve had conversations. We’ll sit down again after tonight with the discomfort that he had, and we’ll find out what the severity is,” David Adelman shared postgame, saying he hadn’t yet heard much of an update. “We’ll sit down again with the medical team and with him. Aaron is a strong personality who knows what his body feels like. And so part of that conversation is his too… the goal is to get him to the end of the year if we’re lucky enough to be in that tournament. That’s the most important thing to me and Aaron’s long-term health, love him to death.”
To make matters worse, Cameron Johnson got into early foul trouble, too. This all led to the Nuggets being forced to play some strange lineups in a must-win game for their NBA Cup hopes against one of the league’s best teams in their barn. Adelman utilized Jokic more with Jonas Valanciunas than he had to this point to combat the Rockets’ size, a move that likely would’ve come regardless of injury. But it wasn’t the size of the Rockets’ record-settingly huge starting five; it was the one smaller player that bugged the Nuggets.
Reed Sheppard poured in a career high 27 points, getting loose for five threes. The young guard cooked in the second quarter, to flip what was a surprising 12-point first quarter by his entire team. The Nuggets struggled in that second quarter thanks to six threes that dropped, but Denver brought it on defense most of the night. Their one bugaboo was fouling jump shooters, which occurred several times, even though the Rockets made just 13 of 20 free throws.
“We tried to make it hard on their best players, give their other guys credit. Reed Shepard went off. It’s pick your poison with a team like that that has that much talent,” Adelman said, alluding to the Nuggets going minus three on the glass, which wasn’t that bad considering the historic rate the Rockets are rebounding. “They made threes where guys stepped up and then other times I thought we did everything right and they got an offensive rebound.”
Peyton Watson held Kevin Durant to 13 points on 15 shots. It was just the fifth time in the past two seasons the four-time scoring champ’s output was that low. The Rockets’ star player, who consistently gets Jokic comparisons, Alperen Sengun, was held to just 14 points on 14 shots with six rebounds and five assists. That’s a far cry from his season averages, which place him as the only center even in the same galaxy cluster as the three-time MVP’s gawdy output.
Joker picked up big time after the Gordon injury, sparking the Nuggets in the third quarter, where they made nine shots in a row. The Rockets responded with a 16-2 run themselves, but it was only after Nikola fell into foul trouble with three picked up in a single minute during the third period. But his scoring output and highlight against Alperen will live on after this night.
“SENGUN JUST GOT SERVED!”
Nikola Jokic blows by Alperein Sengun from the free throw line for the big poster dunk, and the #Nuggets‘ bench’s minds are blown#MileHighBasketball pic.twitter.com/xdIsDAxK4k
— Joel Rush (@JoelRushNBA) November 22, 2025
Jokic finished with 34 points on 20 shots with 10 rebounds and nine assists, plus two blocks and two steals. Jokic is the first player since Oscar Robertson in 1961-62 to record 400 points, 150 rebounds and 150 assists in his 14 games this season.
Spencer Jones was again very impressive in 22 minutes of rough and tumble defense off the bench, while Bruce Brown and Tim Hardaway Jr. combined for 22 points in reserve. THJ closed for the Nuggets, alongside Watson — whose career breakout performance was followed by one of his stronger defensive games plus 10 boards, which would’ve tied his career high until earlier this week. He also added nine points and had a highlight of a key block late.
Watson’s efforts may be even considered greater when thinking about how the Nuggets were down their top two defensive oriented players for the game, and held the league’s top offense to just 109 points in their house.
“They are a good team, they have so much talent, and we responded,” Jokic said. “AG was out, CB was out, but we still had guys to step up the role, and played really well.”
The last man to be mentioned here, as he many times is the closer in games, is Jamal Murray. Tasked with more playmaking due to the Gordon injury and Jokic’s foul trouble, the Blue Arrow answered with a game-high 10 assists against one of the best defensive teams in the league. Where size that presses has bugged him in the past, especially given the Nuggets’ lack of alternate ball handlers, Murray blew right past those issues to put up 26 points on 16 shots — one of his best efforts of the young season.
“The consistency he (Murray) has had, I hate talking about All-Star Games, but he’s playing winning basketball,” Adelman told.
“I thought it was just a really tough win for us just to stay with it in the runs that they made,” Adelman said. “So, it was a good win for the team.”
Murray showed the wing-focused Rockets why guard play matters at the highest level of basketball, and Jokic showed Seguin he has a LONG way to go. No doubt it was a statement win for the Nuggets, who are trying to be in the Thunder’s arena this season, not the Rockets’.
NBA Cup-date
The Nuggets are now 2-1 in West Group C, nicknamed the pool of death for the caliber of teams in it. Denver hosts the Spurs on Black Friday to finish off pool play. The Trail Blazers are in the driver’s seat at 2-1 thanks to a rough last-second foul call, which gave them the win over the Nuggets and the tiebreaker, even though Portland’s point differential in the competition is negative.
A Nuggets win likely gets them into the knockout stage either way, but coupled with a Portland loss to the Spurs and Denver would likely be the winners of their group. The Blazers had a wild comeback win against the Warriors on this Friday night and play the Spurs on Wednesday.
What’s next for the Nuggets
The Nuggets are back home for a single game against the Kings on Saturday. We should know more about Gordon’s injury sometime in the afternoon.
