TORONTO – Canadian Jamal Murray scored five points in the final 5:01 of play as the Denver Nuggets stormed back against the Toronto Raptors for a 127-125 overtime win on Monday.
Murray, from nearby Kitchener, Ont., finished with 17 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.
Nikola Jokic led all scorers with 40 points, pulling down 10 rebounds as Denver (1-2) overcame a 15-point deficit. Aaron Gordon fell short of a triple-double with 16 points, 11 boards and eight assists.
RJ Barrett of Mississauga, Ont., put up a three-point attempt in the dying seconds of the overtime period that could have been the winner for Toronto (1-3) but it hit the rim. He finished with 20 points, five rebounds and three assists in his first game of the regular season after missing time with a sprained shoulder.
Scottie Barnes and Jakob Poeltl each had a double-double for the Raptors. Poeltl had 16 points and a career-high 19 rebounds while Barnes was an assist shy of a triple-double with 21 points, 11 rebounds, and nine assists.
Barnes had to be helped to the bench with 24 seconds left to play in the fourth after taking an elbow to the right eye. He did not return to the court.
It was the end of a physical night for Barnes. He was also the recipient of a flagrant foul by Nuggets point guard Russell Westbrook early in the fourth quarter. Westbrook and Barnes started jawing at each other after the play with their teammates, coaches, and officials having to separate them.
TAKEAWAYS
Nuggets: By percentage it was Denver’s best three-point shooting performance of the young season, making 45 per cent of their shots from beyond the arc. But that came on only 20 three-point attempts, woefully low in the modern NBA. It continued an alarming trend for the 2023 NBA champions, who entered Monday’s contest with 28.8 per cent three-point shooting. The Nuggets’ average of 95.5 points over the first two games of their season is worst in the NBA.
Raptors: Rookies Jamal Shead and Jonathan Mogbo as well as veteran Ochai Agbaji all added a spark off the bench. Toronto’s reserves outscored Denver’s 37-24, with Abaji getting 15, Shead scoring eight, and Mogbo registering six.
KEY MOMENT
Murray drove to the net for a layup with 0.1 seconds left in the fourth to tie the game at 114-114 after the Raptors led by as many as 15 points. It punctuated a 13-3 run that got Denver back into the game. He then added four more points in the extra period.
KEY STAT
The Raptors had 74 points in the paint to Denver’s 68. It was a surprising disparity with Jokic remaining his dominant self, months removed from his third NBA MVP.
UP NEXT
Nuggets: Visit the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday.
Raptors: Visit the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 28, 2024.