The ever-dangerous Nikola Jokic rest minutes were looming. So Jamal Murray made the most of the minutes he had left with his partner in crime.
Murray assisted game-tying and go-ahead baskets to Jokic on Denver’s last two possessions of the third quarter to help him reach 10 assists for the second consecutive game, and the Nuggets were finally on their way to a 112-103 win over the pesky Trail Blazers on Sunday night.
Denver (35-16) swept a two-game weekend series with Portland at Ball Arena and stayed within half a game of Minnesota and Oklahoma City for the top seed in the Western Conference.
“Our defense got better as the game went along,” coach Michael Malone said. “We had zero defense. We had a little bit of defense. We had a lot more defense. And we had great defense.”
The Nuggets trailed by as many as 14, and Portland still led 84-75 with 4:17 remaining in the third as frustrations boiled over for the defending champions. Aaron Gordon had just been issued a technical foul for arguing a no-call after doubling over in pain from contact to the face. The Blazers were blazing hot from 3-point range, making 10 in the first half, and the Nuggets had been trading baskets for most of the night after falling behind early.
Then Denver flipped the switch and went on a 16-0 run that extended into the fourth quarter as Portland went almost six minutes without a field goal. After Kentavious Caldwell-Pope sunk a 3-pointer to get within 84-79, the two-man game between Murray and Jokic took over. Murray drained his own three, assisted by Jokic. Murray grabbed a tough rebound at the other end and fired a long outlet pass to Jokic for the tying bucket in transition. Then the frame ended with the pick-and-roll, Murray pocket-passing to an automatic Jokic.
“We picked it up. The crowd was going,” Murray said. “It was a lot of fun. But I think we can do that for the whole game.”
The two-time MVP finished the game with 29 points, eight rebounds and seven assists on 12-of-20 shooting. Murray, who narrowly missed a triple-double Friday even in one of the worst shooting games of his career, amassed 21 points, 10 assists and five rebounds. The duo combined for three blocks and three steals.
“Same team, right? So they went zone the majority of last game, and then I think I was just trying to get everybody in the right spot more today than last game,” Murray said of his back-to-back games with 10 assists. “And then that forced them to change their defense. Then from there, they were a little discombobulated on what they wanted to do, I could tell.”
Michael Porter Jr. wasn’t effective on offense despite a pair of early threes, but he added three blocks, five rebounds and three assists. All five Nuggets starters scored in double figures for the second straight game.
And for the second straight game, Peyton Watson took the baton in the fourth quarter. If there was any lingering chance at a Portland comeback, his offense off the bench snuffed it. The pseudo-rookie, who missed the cut for this year’s Rising Stars Game at All-Star weekend, made a pair of late threes to reach 10 fourth-quarter points again. He also delivered a thunderous put-back dunk, two steals and an impressive block on Deandre Ayton.
“They came down one time, no one had (Watson),” Malone said. “He pulled up from three, and that was one of those ‘No! No! No! Great shot’ (moments). The kid’s got balls, man.”
Jokic and Ayton struggled to contain each other most of the game. The former Phoenix center scored 27 points on 19 shots to help Anfernee Simons (26 points) carry the load, highlighting Denver’s defensive troubles, but Jokic won the war with one play alone: At the top of the key, he shot-faked Ayton into searching the air for the ball until realizing Jokic had already blown by for a layup and-one.
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