National Basketball Association
Denver 104, Portland 101
When: 9:00 PM ET, Monday, January 22, 2018
Where: Pepsi Center, Denver, Colorado
Officials: #77 Karl Lane, #8 Marc Davis, #31 Scott Wall
Attendance: 14474
Jamal Murray went for a career-high 38 points to lift the Denver Nuggets to a 104-101 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers Monday night at Pepsi Center.

Will Barton made four straight free throws in the final 7.9 seconds for Denver (24-23), which had lost two in a row and six of its last eight outings.

Damian Lillard collected 25 points and eight assists and Jusuf Nurkic contributed 19 points and 12 rebounds for Portland (25-22), which saw the end of a three-game win streak.

Neither team led by double digits in a game that featured 18 lead changes and 21 ties.

Trailing by four points at halftime, Denver scored the first eight points of the third quarter to go ahead 53-49. The Blazers had a 78-76 edge heading into the final period.

The teams were tied at 80-80 when Portland went on a 13-6 run to go ahead 93-86.

Mason Plumlee's dunk got Denver to within 93-90 with 3:53 to play.

Nurkic scored on a layup to push Portland's lead to 95-90 with 3:39 left. Barton sank two at the line to cut it to 95-92 with 3:18 to go, and Murray's 3-pointer tied it at 95-95 with 2:07 remaining.

Plumlee's layup gave Denver a 97-95 led with 1:26 remaining. CJ McCollum hit two free throws to tie it at 97-97 with 1:08 left.

Lillard's runner pushed the Blazers back in front 99-97 with 41.7 seconds to go. Murray's three-point play pulled Denver ahead 100-99 with 33.6 seconds to play.

Barton's two foul shots with 7.9 seconds remaining upped the Nuggets' advantage to 102-99 with 7.9 seconds on the clock. Nurkic dunked with 2.6 seconds to go to trim the difference to 102-101, but Barton answered with a pair of free throws with 1.8 ticks left to ice the verdict.

Murray scored 11 points to help stake Denver to a 20-19 lead after one quarter.

Lillard scored 13 points in the second quarter as Portland carried a 49-45 advantage at intermission. The Nuggets had 10 turnovers in the first half.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
 
Portland   Denver
Damian Lillard 25 Scoring Jamal Murray 38
Damian Lillard 8 Assists Jamal Murray 6
Jusuf Nurkic 12 Rebounds Nikola Jokic 12
CJ McCollum 6 Free Throws Made Will Barton 7
Pat Connaughton 3 Steals Wilson Chandler 2
Jusuf Nurkic 3 Blocks Wilson Chandler 3
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Portland 101 42.4 8-25 21-26 19 44 6 11 12
Denver 104 41.0 10-30 26-33 23 49 8 7 15
Upcoming Games
  • Denver will play their next game at home against New York. The Nuggets have a W/L % of .348 after a win and .667 after a loss.
  • Portland will play their next game at home against Minnesota. The Trail Blazers have a W/L % of .538 after a win and .524 after a loss.