DENVER (March 12) — Mikal Bridges led the Brooklyn Nets to a 122-120 victory over the Denver Nuggets with a game-high 25 points on Sunday. The Nets have now won five of their last six games, boosting their playoff hopes.
Nic Claxton added 20 points, with six rebounds and five assists while Dorian Finney-Smith and Spencer Dinwiddie chipped in 15 points each to aid the winning effort. Dinwiddie also grabbed 16 assists and six rebounds.
Watch Brooklyn Nets beat Denver Nuggets 122-120
Cameron Johnson scored 14, Joe Harris had 12 and Seth Curry finished with 11 for the Nets in the win.
Despite the loss, Nikola Jokic continued his impressive all-round form this season, finishing with 35 points, 20 rebounds, and 11 assists for his league-leading 27th triple-double of the season.
However, the MVP leading candidate missed a contested 14-foot jumper with 5 seconds left that could have given the Nuggets the lead.
Meanwhile, Michael Porter Jr. contributed 23 points for Denver, but it wasn’t enough to prevent the Nuggets from matching their season-high of three consecutive losses.
Jamal Murray finished with 16 points and Aaron Gordon scored 13 for Denver, which shot 50% from the filed on 45 of 90 shooting and 12 shots from 3-pointers.
Nets’ forward Ben Simmons missed his tenth consecutive game due to left knee and back soreness.
“He’s back home in Brooklyn. We’ll get a chance to see where he’s at when we get back home after this trip,” Brooklyn head coach Jacque Vaughn said.
Brooklyn trailed by eight points at halftime but fought back to take an 80-77 lead midway through the third quarter, and then extend the advantage to 98-87 going into the final quarter.
Denver managed to get within one point at 121-120 on a pair of free throws by Jokic with 41.6 seconds left, however, Jokic missed the potential go-ahead shot, and the Nets held on for the win.
The Brooklyn Nets will wrap up their five-game road trip with a matchup against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night, while the Nuggets will face the Toronto Raptors on the same night to begin a five-game road trip.
