ORLANDO, Fla. — Danilo Gallinari sat out the first game of the Nuggets’ two-step through Florida, getting a couple of extra nights to heal after hurting his foot against Houston in addition to his return from knee surgery.
Suffice to say he made up for lost time Sunday night.
The big Italian rained down a half-dozen 3-pointers on the way to a career-high 40 points, helping the Nuggets snap their three-game losing streak in impressive fashion with a 119-100 romp over the Orlando Magic.
“It was one of those nights where the basket looks like a swimming pool,” said Gallinari, who sat out the Nuggets’ loss Friday in Miami.
Gallinari began his night by knocking down a pair of 3-pointers and kept firing, converting 12 of 21 shots in all. He needed less than three quarters to surpass his season best of 26 earlier this month against Milwaukee.
When his final 3-pointer swished through with 8:53 left in the fourth, he surpassed his previous career high of 39 points set at Dallas in December 2012.
“That was the biggest thing for me tonight,” said Jameer Nelson, the longtime Magic standout back in his old haunts. “Not too many guys can give you 40 points in an NBA game. He’s been hot; he’s been shooting the heck out of the ball.”
Nelson also tormented his former team with 15 points and five assists. Jusuf Nurkic, a late addition to the starting lineup with Randy Foye’s illness, added 11 points along with Kenneth Faried, J.J. Hickson and Will Barton.
The Nuggets hit 12 of 28 attempts from 3-point range on the night, one shy of their season best.
Victor Oladipo led the Magic with 21 points, while Nik Vucevic added 20 points and eight rebounds. Rookie Elfrid Payton, who earlier in the week became the first Orlando player ever to record back-to-back triple-doubles, was held to just six points.
“They were really motivated,” Nuggets interim coach Melvin Hunt said. “We wanted to sweep the state of Florida, and we dropped that one to Miami. The guys really wanted to make up for it and, boy, did they make up for it.”
The Nuggets led just 28-25 after the first quarter and 40-33 early in the second before Gallinari and Nelson helped break things open with a 20-2 outburst.
Nelson’s 3-pointer pushed Denver to a 10-point advantage and Hickson followed with a dunk as the Nuggets held Orlando scoreless on 10 of their next 11 trips down the floor, interrupted only by an inside bucket from Vucevic.
“I almost forgot about the offense,” Hunt said. “I’ve got all these pretty plays in my pocket and I didn’t have to pull any of them out. The defense was so on point; the guys were so in tune with each other. They made it easy.”
By the time Nelson drove the lane with four minutes left before halftime, the Nuggets led 60-35 and it was just a matter of keeping any Magic comeback hopes in check.
“We had a group out there that wasn’t focused, lacked the urgency,” Magic interim coach James Borrego said. “Give Denver credit – they played well – but I didn’t think we respected that group enough.”
Denver led 69-51 at halftime and pushed the edge to 27 points in the third, when Nurkic’s jam capped an 11-2 run midway through the quarter to make the score 88-61. The Nuggets led by as many as 33 in the final period.
