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Denver Nuggets vs. Orlando Magic

December 18, 2025 · 2025-26 season

The Nuggets beat the Magic 126-115 on 2025-12-18 at home. The Nuggets started Nikola Jokić, Jamal Murray, Bruce Brown, Cameron Johnson, and Spencer Jones. The Magic started Tyus Jones, Wendell Carter Jr., Desmond Bane, Paolo Banchero, and Anthony Black. Paolo Banchero (Magic) scored 16 points (7/17) in his matchups, with Spencer Jones as his primary defender. Nikola Jokić (Nuggets) scored 29 points (13/21) in his matchups, with Wendell Carter Jr. as his primary defender.

Box score

In orange, the game high in points, rebounds and assists.

DEN

Denver Nuggets 126

Player	MIN	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	FG	3PT	FT	+/-
Nikola Jokić GS	37:47	23	11	13	2	0	6	1	10-17	0-2	3-4	+20
Cameron Johnson GS	35:41	19	11	3	0	1	0	3	6-9	3-5	4-4	+27
Jamal Murray GS	35:40	32	2	3	1	0	1	2	11-22	7-12	3-4	+7
Bruce Brown GS	34:25	11	2	2	0	0	2	2	5-11	1-3	0-0	-13
Spencer Jones GS	18:54	8	1	1	3	0	0	6	4-7	0-3	0-0	+8
Tim Hardaway Jr.	26:58	12	4	0	0	0	2	0	5-8	2-4	0-0	-1
Jalen Pickett	23:54	9	3	7	0	0	0	0	3-7	3-6	0-0	+17
Jonas Valančiūnas	13:11	10	5	0	1	2	2	4	4-6	0-1	2-3	-6
Zeke Nnaji	7:35	0	1	2	0	0	0	0	0-0	0-0	0-0	-2
Julian Strawther	5:55	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	1-1	0-0	0-0	-2
Totals		126	40	31	7	3	13	18	49-88	16-36	12-15

Did not play: Hunter Tyson (DNP - Coach's Decision)

ORL

Orlando Magic 115

Player	MIN	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	FG	3PT	FT	+/-
Paolo Banchero GS	39:17	26	16	10	1	0	2	1	9-21	0-4	8-12	-6
Anthony Black GS	37:25	22	2	3	2	0	3	4	8-18	2-6	4-6	-5
Desmond Bane GS	36:24	6	2	8	0	2	1	3	3-11	0-4	0-0	-15
Wendell Carter Jr. GS	28:34	26	8	0	1	2	0	3	11-15	4-7	0-0	+7
Tyus Jones GS	19:09	5	0	4	0	0	0	0	1-2	1-2	2-2	-20
Jett Howard	28:51	12	6	2	1	0	0	2	3-6	2-5	4-4	+15
Goga Bitadze	19:26	6	4	1	2	2	0	2	3-7	0-1	0-0	-18
Jase Richardson	19:19	9	1	2	1	0	2	2	4-9	1-3	0-0	+1
Noah Penda	11:35	3	5	0	1	0	1	0	1-2	1-1	0-2	-14
Totals		115	44	30	9	6	9	17	43-91	11-33	18-26

Did not play: Tristan da Silva (DND - Injury/Illness), Jonathan Isaac (DND - Injury/Illness)

Lineups

DEN

Denver Nuggets

Starting lineup

The 5 most-used lineups:

Nikola Jokić · Jamal Murray · Bruce Brown · Cameron Johnson · Spencer Jones Starter 6.7 min
Tim Hardaway Jr. · Nikola Jokić · Jamal Murray · Bruce Brown · Cameron Johnson 6.7 min
Nikola Jokić · Jamal Murray · Bruce Brown · Jalen Pickett · Cameron Johnson 6.1 min
Jonas Valanciunas · Tim Hardaway Jr. · Jalen Pickett · Cameron Johnson · Spencer Jones 4.3 min
Jonas Valanciunas · Tim Hardaway Jr. · Bruce Brown · Cameron Johnson · Zeke Nnaji 4.0 min

ORL

Orlando Magic

Starting lineup

The 5 most-used lineups:

Tyus Jones · Wendell Carter Jr. · Desmond Bane · Paolo Banchero · Anthony Black Starter 9.2 min
Wendell Carter Jr. · Desmond Bane · Paolo Banchero · Anthony Black · Jett Howard 9.4 min
Wendell Carter Jr. · Paolo Banchero · Anthony Black · Jett Howard · Jase Richardson 5.6 min
Goga Bitadze · Desmond Bane · Jett Howard · Jase Richardson · Noah Penda 5.3 min
Goga Bitadze · Desmond Bane · Paolo Banchero · Jett Howard · Jase Richardson 5.3 min

Who guarded whom

Based on stats.nba.com matchup data. Points and shooting are always the offensive player's.

Nuggets defense

Paolo Banchero 16 pts (7/17) in 78 possessions

Guarded by: Spencer Jones (27 %, 2 pts) · Bruce Brown (25 %, 7 pts) · Cameron Johnson (11 %, 3 pts)
Desmond Bane 11 pts (3/13) in 70 possessions

Guarded by: Cameron Johnson (31 %, 7 pts) · Tim Hardaway Jr. (14 %, 0 pts) · Bruce Brown (12 %, 2 pts)

Defender	Guarded most
Nikola Jokić	Wendell Carter Jr.: 30 poss., 12 pts (5/8) · Goga Bitadze: 15 poss., 6 pts (3/3)
Jamal Murray	Anthony Black: 37 poss., 6 pts (2/7) · Desmond Bane: 7 poss., 0 pts (0/1)
Bruce Brown	Paolo Banchero: 20 poss., 7 pts (3/5) · Anthony Black: 10 poss., 0 pts (0/2)
Cameron Johnson	Desmond Bane: 22 poss., 7 pts (1/2) · Jett Howard: 10 poss., 2 pts (1/2)
Jalen Pickett	Jett Howard: 11 poss., 0 pts (0/0) · Jase Richardson: 9 poss., 0 pts (0/2)
Tim Hardaway Jr.	Jett Howard: 18 poss., 5 pts (2/2) · Desmond Bane: 10 poss., 0 pts (0/2)
Spencer Jones	Paolo Banchero: 21 poss., 2 pts (1/3) · Desmond Bane: 5 poss., 0 pts (0/1)
Jonas Valanciunas	Goga Bitadze: 13 poss., 4 pts (2/2) · Wendell Carter Jr.: 3 poss., 0 pts (0/0)
Zeke Nnaji	Paolo Banchero: 7 poss., 0 pts (0/0) · Noah Penda: 2 poss., 0 pts (0/0)
Julian Strawther	Jase Richardson: 5 poss., 0 pts (0/0) · Desmond Bane: 2 poss., 0 pts (0/0)

Magic defense

Nikola Jokić 29 pts (13/21) in 80 possessions

Guarded by: Wendell Carter Jr. (43 %, 17 pts) · Goga Bitadze (21 %, 4 pts) · Anthony Black (9 %, 2 pts)
Jamal Murray 14 pts (5/9) in 74 possessions

Guarded by: Anthony Black (38 %, 6 pts) · Tyus Jones (16 %, 0 pts) · Desmond Bane (11 %, 0 pts)

Defender	Guarded most
Paolo Banchero	Bruce Brown: 24 poss., 10 pts (4/9) · Spencer Jones: 23 poss., 12 pts (3/5)
Anthony Black	Jamal Murray: 28 poss., 6 pts (2/2) · Cameron Johnson: 14 poss., 4 pts (1/2)
Desmond Bane	Cameron Johnson: 16 poss., 0 pts (0/1) · Bruce Brown: 13 poss., 0 pts (0/0)
Jett Howard	Tim Hardaway Jr.: 17 poss., 2 pts (1/1) · Cameron Johnson: 14 poss., 6 pts (2/4)
Wendell Carter Jr.	Nikola Jokić: 35 poss., 17 pts (7/9) · Jamal Murray: 6 poss., 4 pts (2/3)
Tyus Jones	Jamal Murray: 12 poss., 0 pts (0/0) · Bruce Brown: 9 poss., 2 pts (0/0)
Goga Bitadze	Nikola Jokić: 16 poss., 4 pts (2/3) · Jonas Valanciunas: 9 poss., 0 pts (0/2)
Jase Richardson	Tim Hardaway Jr.: 10 poss., 0 pts (0/3) · Jalen Pickett: 7 poss., 0 pts (0/0)
Noah Penda	Cameron Johnson: 9 poss., 0 pts (0/0) · Jalen Pickett: 3 poss., 0 pts (0/0)