Basketball

Winners & losers from Rockets-Nuggets Western Conference battle


For just the fourth time all season, the Houston Rockets have found themselves on the wrong end of a final score.

The Denver Nuggets took out their Western Conference counterparts at home on Wednesday night, 105-95.

In what could ultimately be a playoff preview, Nikola Jokic and Will Barton came up big time for Denver. Meanwhile, struggles from star guard Russell Westbrook as well as the Rockets’ now suddenly thin bench doomed the road team.

Here, we look at the biggest winners and losers from this huge Western Conference clash Wednesday evening at Mile High.

Winner: Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets 

This MVP candidate was back up to his old tricks against what has been an improved Rockets defense. Jokic finished the evening with 27 points on 12-of-19 shooting. The game’s most-skilled big man added 12 rebounds and four assists in the win.

Jokic’s performance was especially notable in that he went up against a defense-first big man in that of Clint Capela, who also had himself a nice game. If Denver can get this type of production from its center, no matter the type of competition, it will loom large moving forward.

Loser: Rockets injuries

Houston is already razor thin out on the wing with Eric Gordon sidelined for a while and Gerald Green likely to miss the entire season. The last thing these Rockets needed was for an improved Danuel House Jr. to go down.

That’s exactly what happened in the third quarter when House was on the receiving end of a hard screen by Jokic.





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