The Denver Nuggets are going to win a lot of basketball games this season, but the win they stole from the Atlanta Hawks on the road Friday night is going to be hard to top when the discussion of best wins of the season comes up. 

The Nuggets trailed by as many as 23 points late in the first half, but the second half was a different story. They opened the third quarter on a 19-4 run and pulled away with another 20-3 run in the fourth, outscoring Atlanta 80-60 in the second half. It was also a crucial momentum builder, as the Nuggets hadn’t won consecutive games in two weeks to that point. 

Nikola Jokic, who finished with 40 points on 13-of-26 shooting, was off the floor for the majority of Denver’s fourth-quarter run that ultimately proved to be the decisive turn of the game. Considering he had a better view of it than just about anyone, he explained how the Nuggets were able to assert themselves and flip the script of the game. 

“I mean, I think in that period, we were the ones who dictated the tempo of the game,” Jokic said. “We created the offense. We were moving the ball. I think in that moment, they had one, two pass shots and we controlled the defensive rebound.”

Stepping Up To The Plate

Jokic credited his teammates for each stepping up in their own way during the decisive run and made sure to include the fact that he and Peyton Watson were having a ball watching it all go down from the bench.

“Everybody had a little moment,” Jokic said. “Bruce (Brown) had a three. Tim (Hardaway) had a three. Cam (Johnson) had a three. Jonas (Valanciunas) had a big dunk. Jamal (Murray) had a tough one. So, everybody had a little moment. And me and P-Watt were on the bench having fun.”

When asked by a reporter about his relationship with Jamal Murray and the trust that they have in each other in situations where they are down 20, Jokic explained that it’s mostly a go with the flow type of situation when determining which of the two is going to take the lead offensively.

“I mean, I think it depends (who takes control),” Jokic said. “Of course, it depends who gets going. Jamal is a really big, tough shot maker.  I mean, he's a big shot maker and a big-time tough shot maker. Does that make any sense? He loves those moments.”