A shortened bench stepped up to help the Nuggets win the non-Nikola Jokic minutes in Sunday’s big win over the Lakers in Los Angeles.

With Jeff Green away from the team for personal reasons, JaMychal Green joined the starting lineup. Michael Malone then opted for a nine-man rotation with Bones Hyland, Austin Rivers, Davon Reed and DeMarcus Cousins making up the reserve unit. Each member of the quartet finished with a plus-four or better in the box score, led by Hyland’s plus-11 performance in 26:33 of playing time.

“They had some energy, and they were really good,” Jokic said of the bench. “Everybody was a plus in the plus-minus, so they played really well.”

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When Jokic and starting point guard Monte Morris checked out for the first time with 3:30 left in the first quarter, the Nuggets trailed by five. The bench quartet, playing with Aaron Gordon, did not allow the Lakers to build the lead before Jokic and Will Barton, Denver’s two leading scorers Sunday, returned with 7:33 until halftime. The Nuggets also played the final 1:30 of the first half without Jokic due to foul trouble, but Cousins scored eight points and grabbed two rebounds in his absence.

“Probably his best game of the last five games,” Malone said of Cousin’s 14-point performance with three rebounds and three assists. “I thought DeMarcus was really good as well as Bones.”

Jokic played the entire third, and the Nuggets took a one-point lead to the fourth. Reed started the final quarter with his second 3-pointer before Cousins scored his final six points in the middle of fourth, giving the Nuggets a two-point lead when Barton and Jokic returned for the final six-plus minutes.

“I think he has a really tough role,” Jokic said of Cousins.

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“Today he was good. He was leading. He was scoring. He was really present there. He helped us win the game a lot.”

With JaMychal Green’s minutes with the starters limited by foul trouble, Reed and Rivers helped the Nuggets close out the win. Reed hit a couple of late free throws to finish with 10 points to go with two assists and two steals.

“I thought Davon Reed had a hell of a game,” Malone said. “Kind of an unsung hero type of a game.”

Rivers missed his only shot, but the Nuggets won his 22 minutes by 10 points. Hyland added the final 10 of Denver’s 34 bench points, including a highlight transition layup, to go with four assists, two rebounds and two steals. The bench combined to make 13 of 23 field-goal attempts, helping the Nuggets cut their magic number – the combined amount of Denver wins and Minnesota losses needed to ensure the Nuggets finish in the top six in the Western Conference – to two with three games to go.

“It was a total team effort,” Barton said. “Even the guys that didn’t have big scoring nights, I think they came in, played hard and tried to do anything that we needed them to do to get the win. I think everyone wanted to contribute.”

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