Tonight’s game saw the return of Danilo Gallinari to the starting lineup after a few absences, but his presence wasn’t enough to bring the Nuggets to form. Denver came out flat, flat-lined in the second quarter, then showed up in the third before flat-lining again in the fourth. It was an ugly game in which the Nuggets showed minimal effort, and as a result Hassan Whiteside, Goran Dragic and Wayne Ellington walked all over them in a game that wasn’t nearly as close as the final score indicated.
Miami controlled the tip and from the get-go it was clear that Hassan Whiteside gave them the best chance to win this game.