The Denver Nuggets offense had few answers for the Houston Rockets defense as the Rockets scored a 115-101 victory on Saturday evening.

Bruce Brown was a spark for the Nuggets with 12 rebounds, and he tried to spark the team even further in the third quarter after an exchange of words with Kevin Durant.

The two had to be separated. 

After the game, Brown said about the scuffle, “As a man, there are certain things you don’t say to another man.”

24 hours before the Nuggets took the court against the Rockets at Ball Arena, Brown attended the Colorado Avalanche game. Brown stood between the benches during the second period and joined the commentary team, clearly excited by the action on the ice, which included multiple scuffles and one fight. 

"I wish there was fighting (in the NBA). I wish we didn't get fined," said Brown after the Rockets game. 

Asked if he would've dropped the gloves with KD, he replied, "I would've thought about it.

Nikola Jokic had arguably his roughest outing of the season, recording a season-low five assists to go along with five turnovers. He scored 25 points on 20 field goal attempts and had just seven rebounds.

The rest of the Nuggets starters didn't fare much better as only Jamal Murray was in double figures with 16 points on 13 field goal attempts.

Cameron Johnson, Spencer Jones, and Tim Hardaway Jr combined for 23 points.

The Nuggets did get some help from their bench, as Jonas Valanciunas had 10 points but only one rebound, while Bruce Brown and Jalen Pickett combined for 22 points.

Reed Sheppard didn't quite hit his season high in points, but he did have his season high in threes made with six shots from beyond the arc going down.

Sheppard shot 6-9 from three for 28 points. He also dished six assists, tied for the team high with Amen Thompson.

Kevin Durant led all scorers with 31 points on just 14 field attempts. Durant went 5-6 from deep and 10-11 from the line. He added six rebounds and five assists.

Jabari Smith Jr had his sixth double-double of the season with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Steven Adams had just one point coming off the bench, but led the Rockets with 12 rebounds.

This was the third meeting of the season for the Rockets and Nuggets. The Nuggets won the previous two, a 112-109 victory in Houston in November, followed by a 128-125 overtime victory in Denver less than a week ago.

Coming into the game, Nuggets head coach David Adelman said about the quick succession of games. Yeah, I think it’s the tactical part and you find a rhythm of what they do so you have to change things up as you go. I’ll be interested in what they do, game three, the fact that we played them already this week. It just feels like a playoff game."

"No different than when Sacramento was struggling, losing streak, we played them on a back-to-back. They get a feel for you, people get a feel for you, and I thought Sacramento did. They tried different things with us. This will be similar, obviously, both of us have had really good starts to the season. This game will be completely unique compared to the last two."

With three meetings in the first two months of the season, the two Western Conference powerhouses won't meet again until March 11.