Nikola Jokic had a typically brilliant night on the court to help rally the short-handed Denver Nuggets from down 23 to beat the New Orleans Pelicans 141-135 in overtime Saturday night then saved his strongest message for the fans at Ball Arena.
During his postgame news conference, Jokic sternly rebuked Nuggets fans who booed the team amid its struggles in the first half of its home opener. Denver trailed 53-30 in the second quarter and went into halftime down 73-57 before it mounted its remarkable comeback.
“We got booed at our first home game, and I think those fans who booed us, they don’t need to come anymore,” Jokic said. “If you guys follow us, you know that we never quit and we’ve come back from much worse situations. So if they ask me, they are not welcome anymore.”
Jokic scored eight of his 35 points in overtime and finished with 15 rebounds and 10 assists for the 199th regular-season triple-double of his career, second to Russell Westbrook, who retired with 209.
Jokic said he couldn’t quite explain why it took so long for the Nuggets to get it going Saturday.
“It was just, you know, nothing goes your way, they’re making shots and you’re not making shots,” he said. “It was just bad energy, and it needs a couple of minutes to go by so you can get out of it.”
Jamal Murray scored 42 points and rookie Trevon Brazile had seven of his 17 points in overtime in his home debut for Denver, which took an early lead in overtime. Brazile’s corner 3-pointer with 1:25 left in overtime gave the Nuggets a 133-129 lead.
Denver played without Cam Johnson (ankle) and Alpha Diallo (sprained wrist) and continued to be without Julian Strawther and Spencer Jones.
Trey Murphy III led New Orleans with 26 points, Dejounte Murray had 22 points, and Derik Queen and Zion Williamson scored 17 each. The Pelicans have dropped their first three games under first-year coach Jamahl Mosley.
The Pelicans got some welcome news when learning that center Yves Missi‘s knee injury suffered Friday night in Utah is a contusion and not something more severe.
New Orleans shot 65.9% in the first half and led by 23. Denver rallied to cut it to 16, and Jokic and Murray combined to score 22 of the Nuggets’ 32 points in the third quarter, but the Pelicans extended the lead to 19 heading into the fourth.
Denver erased the deficit on 3-pointers from Murray and Jokic and a reverse dunk from Aaron Gordon. The Nuggets had a chance to go ahead with 17 seconds left, but Murray made two of three free throws to tie it.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
