Jamal Murray had 30 points and eight assists, and Nikola Jokic contributed 27 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists as the visiting Denver Nuggets defeated the Memphis Grizzlies 123-118 Wednesday night for their fifth win in seven games.
Cameron Johnson added 23 points for the Nuggets, who led wire-to-wire for the second time this season.
The Grizzlies have dropped four straight at home and four of their past five games overall after opening the season 6-0. Ty Jerome and Jaylen Wells scored 22 points each, while Cedric Coward (15 points, 11 rebounds) and Cam Boozer (13 points, 11 boards) added double-doubles. Cam Spencer had 15 points off the bench. Jerome extended his streak of 20-point performances to five games.
The Nuggets survived a late Grizzlies rally that pulled Memphis within two at 120-118 following a 3-pointer by Wells with 52.7 seconds left and a Zach Edey hook shot with 20.6 seconds remaining. Denver made three of four free throws in the final 13.9 seconds to secure the victory.
Trailing by 13 at halftime, the Grizzlies chipped away and twice pulled within a point in the final 1:30 of the third quarter. A 3-pointer from Boozer trimmed the Nuggets’ advantage to one at 87-86 with 1:21 left. Coward scored inside in the final minute of the quarter to make it 89-88.
Murray stepped up by scoring 20 of Denver’s 24 points from the final minute of the third quarter into the middle of the fourth, giving the Nuggets a 113-104 lead. Memphis responded with a 7-0 run ending on a putback by Boozer with 4:01 left to move within two at 113-111.
Denver never trailed in the first half, shooting 58.3% while committing just two turnovers. The Nuggets led by 18 early in the second quarter, and while Memphis closed the gap to eight, it found itself behind 65-52 at the break.
