Nuggets overcome boos, 23-point hole to stun Pelicans in OT of home opener

Murray scored 42, Jokic became the NBA's all-time triple-double leader, and Brazile closed it out as Denver tied a franchise record for fourth-quarter comebacks

BY JAKE SHAPIRO

Oct 24, 2026, 10:55 PM

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Watch: Opening night reality check? Nuggets fall to the Thunder | Shapiro and Piro | 31 mins

DENVER — The boos came early and often Saturday night at Ball Arena, and for a long time it looked like they wouldn’t stop.

Most of the sellout crowd cheered when the 2026-27 Nuggets were introduced, despite a sour end to last season and an ugly opener in Oklahoma City two nights earlier. There was a smattering of boos for second-year coach David Adelman.

That was a hint of what was coming. The crowd turned on the home team as the deficit grew to 10, then 15, then 20, then 23. Adelman called timeout after timeout, and the Pelicans kept scoring.

It sounded a lot like the last time the Nuggets played in this building. Fans booed Adelman before Game 5 against Minnesota last spring, with Denver down 3-1. The Nuggets won that night, then lost Game 6 a few nights later and went home.

This time, things flipped — and quick.

Murray scored 42 points, Jokic recorded his 222nd career triple-double, and Denver tied its franchise record by coming back from down 19 to begin the fourth quarter to beat New Orleans 141-135 in overtime. The Nuggets actually trailed by 23 at one point, making it one of the bigger comebacks in general.

“We were dismal the first half,” Adelman said. “It felt like we were waiting for our offense to wake ourselves up, and in the meantime, they were laying the ball in.”

The Pelicans scored 73 points in the first half on 65.9% shooting, including 38 in the first quarter on 15-of-21 shooting. Denver was thin again. Bryce Hopkins started in basically his NBA debut, with Cameron Johnson (right ankle sprain), Alpha Diallo (right wrist sprain), Spencer Jones (hamstring management) and Julian Strawther (knee sprain) all inactive. Even when New Orleans went 0 for 8 from 3-point range in the third quarter, it scored 35 points, 26 of them in the paint.

New Orleans reached its 23-point lead twice, the second time at 95-72 with five minutes left in the third quarter. Denver trailed 108-89 entering the fourth, and ESPN gave the Pelicans a 98.7% chance to win early in the period.

Winning after trailing by 19 entering the fourth ties a franchise record. Denver also did it in 2019 against Philadelphia, when it trailed by 21 in the fourth. The 23-point comeback ties the largest at home in club history, matching a win over San Antonio in 2020.

Adelman said the most underrated part of the comeback wasn’t the finish but the start of the fourth.

“I thought that unit brought us some juice and energy,” he said. “Marvin Bagley, Tyus, and those guys, they got stops. We got DeMar the ball in tight spots. He found TB on the backside for a 3.”

That group of Aaron Gordon, Bagley, Tyus Jones, Brazile and DeMar DeRozan opened the quarter on a 12-4 run. The Pelicans pushed the lead back to 16 with 7:24 left, but the starters returned and kept chipping. Denver cut it to nine on two DeRozan free throws with 5:35 left, then to seven on a Brazile putback dunk.

Adelman said the timeouts weren’t just a show of frustration.

“To stop the game, to make the game extremely long, allows you to have a chance to stay with it,” he said. “It makes the game feel like it’s a five-quarter game, and eventually it went to the fifth quarter.”

The last 90 seconds of regulation were wild. Jokic hit a 3-pointer, and Murray answered a Zion Williamson jumper with a step-back 3 to make it 126-122. Williamson threw the ball out of bounds, and Jokic found Gordon for an alley-oop. On New Orleans’ next trip, Brazile stepped in front of another Williamson pass.

Down two, Murray was fouled by Dejounte Murray on a 3-point attempt with 16.8 seconds left. He made the first and third free throws, missing one that would have put Denver ahead, to tie it at 126. Then Jokic’s pressure forced Trey Murphy III to lose the ball out of bounds with 1 second left.

In overtime, Jokic and Brazile took over. Jokic scored eight points and grabbed seven rebounds in the extra period, which gave him 35 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists, moving him past Russell Westbrook for the most triple-doubles in NBA history, regular season and playoffs combined. Brazile blocked Saddiq Bey’s 3-point attempt on the first possession, hit a 3 that made it 133-129 and finished with a putback for the final margin. The Pelicans went 1 of 11 from the field in overtime.

Brazile, in his second NBA game, finished with 17 points, nine rebounds and two blocks. He played all 12 minutes of the fourth quarter and all five in overtime, and both of his blocks came on 3-point attempts.

“The biggest compliment you can give a guy that’s a rookie in our league is that the veterans on his team trust him,” Adelman said. “We haven’t had a guy like him in a long time.”

Murray was there all night. Two days after a six-point, 2-of-11 night in Oklahoma City, he went 12 of 25, including 8 of 16 from 3, the most 3-pointers by a Nugget in a home opener. His 42 and Jokic’s 35 combined for 77 points, the fifth-most the duo has scored together in any game.

“I expected that,” Adelman said. “I didn’t expect our team to come out the way they did.”

There’s still plenty to clean up. Denver allowed 70 points in the paint and 23 fast-break points to an 0-3 team playing the second night of a road back-to-back, both at altitude. But Adelman pointed to what the group has been through.

“This core has seen everything,” he said. “They’ve lost leads like this too. That’s why you got to stay patient with the group that we have.”

Patience wasn’t in the building for most of Saturday night. Adelman asked for it anyway, for his rookie as much as anyone.

“He should be celebrated tonight,” Adelman said of Brazile. “But also be patient with him. It’s his second game in the NBA”