LOS ANGELES – Jamal Murray had only less than a second left on the clock, but that was all he needed in the Denver Nuggets’ National Basketball Association victory on Thursday night.
The guard stayed calm to drain a three-pointer with 0.9sec remaining to lift his team to a 121-120 win over the hosts Portland Trail Blazers, earning a pat on the back from his coach.
Nikola Jokic recorded 33 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists, and Murray scored 14 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter as Denver halted their season-worst three-game slide to improve to 15-10.
Aaron Gordon added 20 points for the Nuggets.
Damian Lillard scored 40 points, matched his season best of 12 assists and made a season-high nine three-pointers for the Trail Blazers (13-12).
Jusuf Nurkic added 21 points and nine rebounds and Jerami Grant had 18 points for Portland.
“It was a play for (Jokic) to get space and let him work,” Murray said on ESPN of his game-winning trey.
“He fumbled it a little and he told me to come get it.
“I turned and looked at the clock, saw that I didn’t have to rush, and I just went into my move.”
It was a memorable win for Murray after he missed the whole of last season while recovering from knee surgery.
“I told Jamal, going into this season, you have to learn that it’s a process because you’re back,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said.
“You’re going to be better in a month, Christmas and post-season as you continue to get right.
“And tonight is a nice step in that direction.”
In the game’s dying moments, Denver moved ahead 118-117 before Lillard nailed three-pointer No. 9 with 9.1sec to play.
Murray then buried his big trey and the Trail Blazers came up empty when Kentavious Caldwell-Pope broke up a pass towards the basket.
Bones Hyland added 13 points off the bench and Bruce Brown tallied 10 for the Nuggets, who connected on 51.6 per cent of their shots and were 12 of 30 from behind the arc.
Josh Hart had 12 points for Portland, who made 48.4 per cent of their field-goal attempts, including 16 of 40 from three-point range.
Elsewhere, Keldon Johnson scored 32 points and Tre Jones added 26 points as San Antonio beat the visiting Houston Rockets 118-109 to snap an 11-game losing streak.
Josh Richardson and Doug McDermott added 12 points each for the Spurs, who broke free of a game tied at 65 in the third quarter by taking a 90-77 advantage heading into the fourth.
Bam Adebayo scored 31 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, Jimmy Butler scored 26 points on 10-of-12 shooting and the Miami Heat won 115-110 at home to hand the Los Angeles Clippers a second loss in as many nights.
Paul George led the Clippers with 29 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. REUTERS
