Nuggets find groove on road, look to take down Nets

In their first month as reigning NBA champions, the Denver Nuggets struggled to attain road wins, while away victories are coming with some consistency now.

The Nuggets attempt to get their fourth straight road win and go over the .500 mark in those games Friday night when they visit the slumping Brooklyn Nets.

Denver is playing its 17th road game to match the New York Knicks for the most in the NBA. Following visits to Brooklyn and Charlotte, it plays eight of its next 10 at home until a five-game road trip that features stops in Philadelphia and Boston next month.

The Nuggets would like their latest road contest to be similar to some of their recent games. Denver averaged 106.7 points when it lost six of its first nine road games through a 105-86 loss to the Houston Rockets.

Since then the Nuggets are 5-2 in their past road games, a stretch highlighted by wins over the Los Angeles Clippers and Phoenix Suns ahead of wins over the Atlanta Hawks, Chicago Bulls, and Toronto Raptors.

Denver's latest road win occurred Wednesday when it led for the final 40:54 and by as many as 21 in a 113-104 win over Toronto when the Nuggets also won for the fifth time in six games since a three-game losing streak Dec. 2-8. The Nuggets shot 50 percent for the 13th time and remained unbeaten in those games.

"Our offense has been a lot more efficient (in road games)," Denver coach Mike Malone said. "We're getting back to playing our style of basketball."

Nikola Jokic, who is averaging 24.7 points in 15 road games so far, totaled 31 points, 15 rebounds and six assists for his fourth game with at least 30 points and 15 boards this season. Jamal Murray added 20 for his fifth 20-point game since returning from a hamstring injury.

Jokic had a triple-double of 26 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists on Dec. 14 when the Nuggets never trailed in a 124-101 rout of the Nets.

The last meeting with Denver is part of Brooklyn's 1-5 skid that continued with a 121-102 loss to the New York Knicks on Wednesday. Before that slide, the Nets went 6-1 in a seven-game span from Nov. 25-Dec. 8.

After allowing 123.2 points on its five-game road trip, the Nets were overwhelmed physically against the Knicks by allowing 52 points in the paint and shooting a season-worst 36.6 percent. Brooklyn also allowed at least 120 points in a season-high fourth straight game and fell to 1-13 when conceding at least 120.

The Nets trailed by nine after the opening quarter and have been outscored by 19 in their past six first quarters.

"We just need to be the team that punches first every night, and we're not that team right now," Brooklyn's Cameron Johnson said. "We haven't been that team the past couple of games."

Johnson and Cam Thomas scored 20 points apiece to lead the Nets but Mikal Bridges shot 4 of 21 and is shooting 27.4 percent (17 of 62) in his past four outings.

—Field Level Media