TORONTO — Arriving in Canada with more pressure on them than the third game of a season should ever entail, the Nuggets had an opportunity to leave their bad start behind in Denver.
Instead, they’re bringing it back through U.S. customs and to Brooklyn for their Tuesday back-to-back — but with unimaginably heightened spirits after a 127-125 overtime win over the Raptors on Monday night.
Jamal Murray, the hometown kid who received a warm welcome even after his struggles with the Canadian national team this summer, drove the baseline for a game-tying reverse layup with 0.3 seconds left in regulation, completing a 13-3 run in the last 2:10. Murray was 4-of-15 for 12 points before the clutch bucket.
The dramatic run started with a Christian Braun 3-pointer. It ended with unorthodox strategy. The Nuggets avoided their first 0-3 start of Nikola Jokic’s career and Michael Malone’s coaching tenure by deliberately going for two points in a game they trailed by three with 15 seconds remaining. Jokic scored on a post-up, then Denver sent Davion Mitchell back to the foul line after he had just missed half of a pair. He did so again, giving the visitors an opportunity to force overtime without having to rely on their perceived Achilles heel, the 3-point shot.
That wasn’t their weakness this time, though. Besieged by their own failure to win the paint, where they’re supposed to wield their greatest advantage, they dug a 15-point hole in the third quarter despite making most of their 3s. They finished the night 9-for-20 outside, including a Jokic dagger that doubled the lead in overtime. He scored 40 points (on 18-for-27 shooting) for the second game in a row, after doing so three times all season in 2023-24.
Denver’s next-highest scorers were Braun and Murray, with 17 points each.
The Nuggets were playing from behind most of the night again. They shot 54% from the floor and 5-for-8 from outside in the first half, even getting to the foul line twice as often as the hosts. But they trailed 62-54 anyway because Toronto outscored them 42-28 in the lane and attempted 12 more field goals, a stat that Malone’s squad partially owed to its 12 turnovers.
It wasn’t only the bench this time. Denver’s starting lineup was to blame as the Raptors quickly expanded their lead to 15 early in the second half. And it was to blame for an early distress-call timeout by Malone after the Raptors scored on their first six possessions of the game.
Malone’s game-to-game adjustments continued. From the first to the second, it was which player he chose to stagger with the second unit. Michael Porter Jr. replaced Murray with the lineup to “space the floor and give (opponents) different looks,” he explained pregame Monday. He also mentioned that it would allow Murray top stay in more of a rhythm, referencing his own preseason comment that Murray’s usual sub pattern can get “choppy.” The problem: Murray still shot 6 for 20 from the field in his latest Ontario homecoming, even if he made the most important attempt of the night.
From the second to the third game, it was an increase in Julian Strawther’s minutes. The second-year guard has struggled as an on-ball defender, but Denver has nonetheless needed his efficiency to provide a rare breath of fresh air with Murray and Porter struggling to score. After playing 33 combined minutes in the first two games, Strawther was on the floor for 22 on Monday. He didn’t miss a shot en route to nine points.
The search for answers even forced a hand that Malone typically reserves for playoff games and high-leverage regular-season situations. He shortened the rotation to eight men in the second half, playing Aaron Gordon at the five with the second unit. Dario Saric, the offseason acquisition who has struggled at both ends of the floor, sat the whole half.
Not even Gordon has transcended the team’s slow start to this season, but he managed to overcome four first-half turnovers this time to be fairly productive with the bench. He registered 16 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists and a nose-to-nose confrontation early in the fourth quarter after Russell Westbrook’s flagrant foul prevented a transition layup. That bit of passion briefly sparked something in the bench unit — it closed the gap to 91-89.
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