Jamal Murray scored 26 points, Nikola Jokic finished with 14 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists for his 34th triple-double of the season, and the host Denver Nuggets won their 10th in a row, 136-119 over the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday night.
Denver (52-28) has its first double-digit winning streak since the 2012-13 season and moved 1 1/2 games ahead of the Los Angeles Lakers and the Houston Rockets for the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference.
The Nuggets finish their regular season with two games against the top seeds in the Western Conference — home against Oklahoma City on Friday and Sunday night at San Antonio.
Los Angeles (50-29) holds the tiebreaker over Denver, but the Nuggets have the edge on Houston (50-29).
Cameron Johnson had 18 points for the Nuggets, and Jonas Valanciunas scored 14 in his 1,000th career game. Christian Braun also had 14 points, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Bruce Brown contributed 13 each and Julian Strawther added 10.
Valanciunas, who was recognized for his milestone game, picked up four fouls in less than four minutes in the second quarter but came alive in the fourth when he scored 10 points.
Cedric Coward finished with 27 points for Memphis (25-55). The Grizzlies have lost six in a row and 19 of their past 21.
Taylor Hendricks and Lucas Williamson scored 16 apiece, Walter Clayton Jr. and Toby Okani had 15 points each and Adama Bal added 12 points for Memphis.
The Grizzlies, despite being without several top players, went on a 23-6 run in the second quarter to lead by eight. Denver clawed back to take a two-point lead late but Williamson was fouled on a 3-pointer and hit the free throw, then added a short hook shot to give Memphis a 72-68 halftime lead.
The Grizzlies opened an eight-point lead early in the third but the Nuggets went on a 14-3 run to go ahead 84-81 midway through the period. Jokic got his 10th assist during the spurt to secure his 198th career triple-double.
Denver extended the lead to 107-94 heading to the fourth and went ahead 121-100 with 6:32 left in the fourth.
–Field Level Media
