NBA · GAME DAY
Denver NuggetsAWAY
New Orleans PelicansHOMEScheduled start passed · status unconfirmed · Official game details ↗
NBA · ARCHIVED PRIMER
The scheduled start has passed. This is the saved pregame primer, not live coverage or a result.
Coverage as of .
One game. Four ways in. Choose your read; the full primer adds the stories behind the headlines.
New Orleans is 0-3, but every loss has been within six points. Denver supplied the overtime defeat and returns for a rematch with just one win of its own. Murray scored 42 in that meeting; Jokic added a triple-double. Watch the decisions after Jokic draws help, and whether the Pelicans finally turn a close finish into a completed win.
New Orleans gets an immediate chance to revisit its overtime loss in Denver. The Pelicans are 0-3 with defeats by three, one and six points; the Nuggets are 1-2, their only win coming in that meeting.
Murray scored 42 and Jokic had 35 points, 15 rebounds and ten assists. For New Orleans, Murphy scored 26 and Dejounte Murray 22. Watch what the Pelicans change after a second defender commits to Jokic—and whether their own late possessions produce a shot without an extra rescue dribble.
Denver then conceded 22 threes to Golden State. Its recovery to shooters is another useful detail. Johnson is doubtful and Strawther out; Poole is available for New Orleans in the 1:45 p.m. ET report.
New Orleans’ losses: three points, one point, six points. The rematch offers a chance to change the finish.
Murray scored 42 and Jokic posted 35 points, 15 rebounds and ten assists in the first meeting.
Denver conceded 22 threes to Golden State Monday. Watch the helper’s route back to a shooter tonight.
New Orleans has lost by three, one and six points. The last of those defeats took overtime in Denver, which makes tonight’s rematch unusually personal without requiring an invented grudge. The Pelicans are 0-3; the Nuggets are 1-2, with that meeting their only win. Both teams have something specific to revisit.
Being close has kept New Orleans interesting. Converting one of those close games is the next assignment.
Jamal Murray scored 42 in the first meeting, while Nikola Jokic collected 35 points, 15 rebounds and ten assists. One player punished the defense with scoring; the other kept several kinds of pressure on it at once.
Trey Murphy III answered with 26 for New Orleans, and Dejounte Murray added 22. Watch how the Pelicans connect those perimeter options to Zion Williamson’s touches, rather than treating each scorer’s possession as a separate event.
Denver’s latest game went the other direction: a 134-114 loss to Golden State, which made 22 of 44 threes. The Nuggets made ten of 29. That is a concrete reason to watch their recovery to shooters, even though New Orleans presents a different offense.
Cameron Johnson is doubtful and Julian Strawther is out in the 1:45 p.m. ET report. New Orleans has Jordan Poole available and Yves Missi out; the full report is in the availability note.
Watch the defender asked to help on Jokic, then follow that defender’s original assignment. A double-team can force the ball away from a great scorer and still leave the defense in trouble if the next pass finds an open teammate. His ten assists in Saturday’s meeting give that choice real context.
For New Orleans, notice where the final pass arrives in a tight possession: somewhere a teammate can attack immediately, or somewhere that requires starting again?
The Pelicans’ largest losing margin so far is six points—and even that game needed overtime. Their other defeats were by three and one. An 0-3 record tells you the outcome, but those margins tell you why the games have remained worth watching.
Do not turn that into a prediction that a win is owed. It simply makes the final few possessions a better place to look for an explanation than a sweeping judgment about the entire team.
New Orleans should want more than another sympathetic loss. Under first-year coach Jamahl Mosley, a close finish is useful practice only if the next one shows something learned: a clearer decision, a cleaner catch, a shot the team actually intended to create.
Denver has its own version of that test. The first meeting required 42 from Murray and a Jokic triple-double. Can the next win ask for something more balanced, perhaps including DeRozan after his 21-point bench outing?
“Does 0-3 feel different when every loss is within six?” The answer should include both parts: New Orleans has been competitive, and it still has not finished a game ahead.
Or try: “Would you send a second defender at Jokic after he had ten assists against you?” Watch what happens to the player that helper leaves behind before deciding you have found the easy solution.
October 28, 1:45 p.m. ET NBA report: Denver lists Alpha Diallo, Spencer Jones and Julian Strawther out; Cameron Johnson doubtful. New Orleans lists Yves Missi, Malik Dia and Jaron Pierre Jr. out; Jordan Poole available and Julian Reese probable. Available, probable and doubtful are report-time designations, not guarantees of a starting role or minutes. Source
Pregame snapshot; pending and uncertain availability is identified in the primer.
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