The Denver Nuggets started NBA Summer League play in Las Vegas against the Milwaukee Bucks tonight. What started as a typical sloppy Vegas game ended up becoming an exciting and fun game of basketball in the second half. The Nuggets got a great effort out of Daron Holmes II which is a bigger win than the actual game which they lost in heart breaking fashion. Milwaukee got ahead in the first half, then fell behind in the second before walking off the Nuggets with a buzzer beater three. Denver loses 90-89.

It was the typical sluggish offense you expect to see in Summer League to start the game. Hunter Tyson got Denver’s first five points and that gave them a small lead. It didn’t last with no one else scoring but Milwaukee wasn’t getting anything either so the game stayed close. Halfway through the quarter the Nuggets were up 10-5 with all their points coming from either Tyson or Holmes. Former Chicago Bull E.J. Liddell scored five straight and Denver maintained the advantage with the first quarter winding down. Cormac Ryan got on a heater for the Bucks to close out the quarter to put them up 19-18 after one.

The game looked a bit more fluid to start the second. Tyrell Harrison showed off his combination of skill and size but the Bucks kept in front. Milwaukee started getting sloppy with the ball and that let Denver get back into it behind Boo Buie. Things slowed down after that, there were a lot of whistles and the physicality picked up. Denver went ice cold from the floor with their starters back in. The game got very sloppy and Milwaukee pulled ahead again. For about two minutes the Nuggets weren’t even getting shots, just turning the ball over. That gave the Bucks a 12-0 run before Tyson finally got some points converting an and-1. Milwaukee was just more crisp on offense than Denver and that led to the lead getting up to eleven. Tyson got a couple free throws and the game went to half with the Nuggets trailing 46-37.

Denver opened the second half playing better. Reece Beekman got a couple buckets along with Holmes to spark an 11-1 run out of the gate. The game still had big stretches of Summer League style play, including the Bucks invoking a classic commentary line “the hesi, the pull!…the air.” Chris Livingston had some good minutes for Milwaukee as they went back in front. Holmes continued to look good, pump faking his defender at the three point line, putting the ball on the floor and getting to the cup for an easy layup. Curtis Jones knocked down some threes, Tamar Bates had a nice take for an and-1 and the Nuggets took back the lead with a couple minutes left in the quarter. At the end of the third it was all tied at 64.

Bates had his moment to open the fourth, getting a nice steal and following it up by burying a corner three. Harrison dominated on the glass, Bates continued to be a pest on defense and the Nuggets kept a small lead. They cooled off on offense but kept playing tough defense. You could tell the players knew it was crunch time as the intensity picked up on both sides. The Nuggets lead pushed up to eight with Holmes continuing to look good, burying threes and making aggressive moves to the basket. On Milwaukee’s side they started canning threes and after a couple times trading threes for twos the Bucks were back within three with under two minutes to go. It was a two point game in the final minute when Ryan went two for one and tied the game at 87. Denver got a couple looks at the bucket before Liddell had an Aaron Gordon-esque putback dunk with five seconds left to put the Nuggets up two. It wasn’t meant to be though, after a timeout Jamaree Bouyea buried the buzzer beater three and gave Milwaukee the win 90-89.

A buzzer bummer but a lot of good

Listen, I wanted that Liddell dunk to be the winner too but the fact that Denver lost this game is really irrelevant. All the players who have some sort of contract with Denver looked good. Holmes was especially promising and showed how skilled and versatile as a big he can be. You could see the three and D potential in Bates, Spencer Jones was solid, Tyson was great in the first half (ehhh not so much in the second) and Beekman had a solid start to his case for more than just a training camp invite. It’s still just Summer League so you can’t look too much in it but if nothing else Holmes looked healthy and flashed his NBA potential. That’s a massive W for Denver

Some guys showed potential to be the last two-way

Denver already has Bates and Jones as two-way contract players which leaves them one more developmental player contract. Liddell and Beekman made the strongest cases, but E.J. might be a bit redundant with Jones. Harrison showed off his NBA size, but he’s a long shot at this point being twenty-six years old. It’s never a bad idea to have an emergency point guard on a two way, particularly with Denver only having two true point guards on the roster currently. That might give Beekman the early advantage in the final two-way spot competition, but its way too early to draw any conclusions. The Nuggets may very well end up signing a player who’s not even on the Summer League roster.