Nurkic, Barton lead Nuggets past Pelicans, Davis, 107-102

Nurkic scored a career-high 23 points and grabbed nine rebounds in 26 minutes and was able to shoot an efficient 9-12 from the paint after struggling to finish from close during the preseason.

Most analysts have the Denver Nuggets winning somewhere between 30-35 games this season.

He played like a man on a mission though taking 13 shots in the first quarter alone.

“I was just trying to be aggressive, staying in attack mode, whether I’m scoring for myself of making plays for others”, Barton said. “I just went out and did my job”.

Gentry wasn’t shocked at all by Davis’ performance. “He’s a hell of a player”. It doesn’t surprise me that he has the night like he had.

Meanwhile, the Nuggets hit 44.6 percent of their shots.

Will Barton, who scored 22 points as a starter against New Orleans, was asked how the Nuggets can keep their momentum going.

Davis had 50 points, 16 rebounds, 7 steals, 5 assists, and 5 blocks in 41 minutes.

Davis finished fifth in the voting behind Towns, Kevin Durant (pretty good player), LeBron James (best player on the planet) and Stephen Curry (a two-time NBA MVP).

Anthony Davis, who is best known by his unibrow by some, is beginning to get people to forget that he has that caterpillar on his face.

One reason for that was Kenneth Faried. The last person to do it was Draymond Green in 2015, when he put up 24 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists, five blocks, and five steals. Frazier showed he’s more than comfortable filling in for Jrue Holiday.

Mason Ginsberg of Bourbon Street Shots, a New Orleans sports blog and ESPN TrueHoop network member, had some fun on his Twitter account with the performance. There’s a reason the Pelicans are 5-9 when he attempts 25 or more shots. New Orleans went to a smaller lineup that gave the bigger Nuggets plenty of headaches.

It’s something we’ve been harping on here at Pelican Debrief all offseason, and it came into play right away tonight: Playing quickly doesn’t always mean running in transition every time you have the chance.

Denver took a 60-48 lead into the half behind Nurkic and Danilo Gallinari who had ten points of his 15 points during the first two quarters.

“It’s on me”, said Davis. However many admittedly don’t really know what to actually expect from them.

That said, the 27-year-old’s biggest impact came on the defensive side of the ball.

“You think what you’ve gone through the past two years, the loss of my brother and having to get another surgery and all of the ups and downs”.

Davis joins a ridiculous group of players on Wednesday night, and it shouldn’t be overlooked because the Pelicans are trying to stay afloat in the Western Conference with the roster they now have.