Jamal Murray scored 12 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter, and the Denver Nuggets rallied from 21 points down in the third quarter to beat the depleted Toronto Raptors 125-119 on Monday night.
Murray added 12 assists to go along with Nikola Jokic’s 21st triple-double of the season. Jokic finished with 35 points, 17 rebounds and 12 assists to help Denver improve to 9-1 since the All-Star break.
Jokic has 126 career triple-doubles.
The Raptors played without Scottie Barnes (left hand fracture ), Chris Boucher (knee), Gary Trent Jr. (groin strain) and Immanuel Quickley (hip flexor) in addition to Jakob Poeltl being sidelined after having surgery on his left pinkie.
That gave younger, less-used players a chance for meaningful minutes, including Jontay Porter, Michael Porter Jr.‘s younger brother. It is the first time the siblings played in the same NBA game.
Jontay Porter scored a career-high 14 points, Kelly Olynyk finished with his highest points total as a Raptor with 24 points, and Bruce Brown, who helped the Nuggets win the NBA title last season, had 13 points and 10 rebounds for Toronto
Gradey Dick was sensational in his thrid-straight start finishing with 17 points, seven assists and four rebounds. His defensive intensity and overall awareness on the court was a sight to behold for the former Kansas Jayhawk.
The Nuggets trailed 107-104 with 7:59 left but scored eight straight points to take the lead for good. RJ Barrett, who had 26 points for Toronto, cut it to 121-119 but Michael Porter Jr.’s corner 3-pointer with 1:02 left sealed it. The Raptors fall to 23-42 on the season and will head to Detroit to prevent a winless road trip against the Pistons on Wednesday night.
