DENVER — Jamal Murray scored 24 points, Michael Porter Jr. had 20 and the Denver Nuggets scored the last six points of the game to pull out a 118-113 victory over the Toronto Raptors.
Aaron Gordon added 19 points for the Nuggets, who won their ninth in a row at home.
They improved to 24-1 in their last 25 games at Ball Arena. Nikola Jokic finished an assist shy of another triple-double. He had 17 points and 13 rebounds.
“It was a great win, all business” Murray said according to AP. “We move on to the next. We did what we had to do and I think that´s part of the reason we´re so successful; just move on to the next game and take care of business.”
Fred VanVleet had 21 points for the Raptors. Pascal Siakam added 19.
Siakam´s jumper with 2:20 remaining gave the Raptors a six-point edge, but the Nuggets rattled off seven straight points to go up 112-111 with 1:15 left.
VanVleet hit a pair of free throws as Toronto regained a one-point lead, but Denver scored the final six points, all on free throws, to secure the win. Murray converted a free throw in that final stretch after Scottie Barnes was called for a technical following a foul by Jakob Poeltl and ejected by referee Scott Foster.
“I was just saying something to myself and I guess he took offense to it, so just kicked me out of the game,” Barnes said.
Elsewhere, Kevin Huerter scored 25 points, Domantas Sabonis had his eighth triple-double of the season and the Sacramento Kings beat the New Orleans Pelicans 123-108.
Sabonis finished with 19 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists. He leads the NBA with 52 double-doubles.
The Kings (38-26) have won six of their first seven games after the All-Star break and pulled within a half-game of Memphis for the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference.
“We want to play our first (playoff) game at home,” Kings rookie Keegan Murray said. “It´s not easy, we know we have a lot of tough stretches coming up… we know we have to be locked in every single night.”
Huerter added eight assists and five rebounds.
“He should get five rebounds in a game, so I´m extremely excited about that and we need to continue to get that kind of production from him,” Kings coach Mike Brown said.
The Kings outscored the Pelicans 38-20 in the third quarter after the game was tied at 59-all at halftime.
Davion Mitchell got the start for injured Kings star De´Aaron Fox and scored 15 points and added six assists. Trey Lyles scored 14 points off the bench.
Brandon Ingram scored 24 points for the Pelicans (31-34). New Orleans has lost six of its last seven games.
“We didn´t get into our offense quick enough,” Pelicans coach Willie Green said. “We started walking around on the perimeter. …I have any concerns (moving forward).”
Jonas Valanciunas added 19 points and 12 rebounds.
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