The Nuggets defeated their Western Conference opponents the Lakers 124-114 on Saturday night, completing a season series sweep. Denver has triumphed over the Lakers a total of eight times in a row, including a four-game sweep in the Western Conference Finals last year.
Historic performances from both teams highlighted this matchup, as LeBron James became the first player to NBA history to reach 40,000 career points. On the Nuggets side, Michael Porter Jr. became the first player The story of the NBA is attempting 10+ field goals and 5+ threes without missing a single shot.
Beyond that, it was the stars who took over late. Nikola Jokic looked every bit like an MVP, scoring 35 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists, and Jamal Murray added 24 points and 11 assists. Overall, it was another impressive victory for the Nuggets as they continue the fight to defend their NBA title.
But the play of these stars has become almost expected at this point. The biggest takeaway from the game for me was Justin Holiday’s stellar two-way play coming off the bench. Holiday was thrust into a bigger role as Kentavious Caldwell-Pope missed the game for personal reasons
Holiday responded in a big way, playing 31 minutes on the Nuggets bench and recording 13 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists on 5/7 shooting and 3/5 from three-point land. He was also active on the defensive end and looked like a guy the Nuggets can rely on in big moments as he helped close out the game.
Depth has arguably been the biggest problem and question mark for the Nuggets this season in their quest to repeat as champions after losing key players Bruce Brown and Jeff Green in free agency.
The team relied on young players like Christian Braun and Peyton Watson to fill the void, and while those players had some good moments, they were inconsistent and unreliable at times.
The veteran Holiday has been in and out of the rotation, seeing his minutes snatched away, and at times not seeing the court at all. He’s averaging just over 14 minutes per game during the season, and much of that has come in the trash or with other players missing games.
In fact, it was only the fourth time this calendar year that Holiday even reached 20 minutes. Before Saturday night, he hadn’t even managed 15 minutes played since February 14. But this must change.
Holiday is certainly nothing more than a role player, but he is a reliable veteran presence off the bench who can contribute on both offense and defense. It’s something this team has lacked all season, and something it will desperately need come playoff time. The Nuggets have been searching for answers all season, and it seems like the answer may have been right in front of them all along.
