Jamal Murray scored 17 of his game-high 39 points in a turnaround third quarter as the Denver Nuggets claimed a critical 116-111 victory over the host Houston Rockets on Sunday.
Murray shot 15-for-28 and added seven assists to help the Nuggets (45-27) overcome the absence of star center Nikola Jokic, who missed his fourth consecutive game with a left ankle impingement.
Murray scored 12 straight points during one decisive stretch in the third, a run that he capped with an alley-oop pass to DeAndre Jordan, who scored through a foul and subsequently completed a three-point play that supplied the Nuggets an 86-73 lead with 2:39 remaining in the period. The Nuggets outscored the Rockets 39-22 in the third.
Denver shot 50.6 percent from the field (44 of 87) and closed within one game of Houston (46-26) for second place in the Western Conference. Jordan (11 points, 15 rebounds) posted a double-double subbing for Jokic. Michael Porter Jr. added 17 points and nine rebounds, while Aaron Gordon chipped in 13 points and eight assists.
Jalen Green scored 30 points to pace the Rockets, who had their nine-game winning streak snapped. Dillon Brooks added 21 points with five 3-pointers, including a corner 3 with 1:16 left in regulation that cut what was once a 19-point deficit to 109-105. Murray responded with three free throws down the stretch.
Alperen Sengun assisted on Brooks’ fifth 3 for his eighth career triple-double (17 points, 14 rebounds, 10 assists). Steven Adams had 14 points and 12 rebounds off the Houston bench.
Denver responded to an early salvo from the Rockets with a 15-2 run that netted the Nuggets a 17-13 lead. Murray and Porter scored six points each during that surge while Houston missed six consecutive shots. The Rockets pulled even at 27-27 by the close of the first period despite the starting backcourt of Green and Fred VanVleet scoring seven points on 2-for-8 shooting.
The second quarter was a topsy-turvy affair, with the teams combining for seven lead changes and six ties.
Over the final 5:20 of the first half, the teams produced five deadlocks, with Christian Braun pulling the Nuggets even at 43-43 with a dunk and at 45-45 with a transition layup. Murray answered a Green 3-pointer with 31 seconds left with a 3-pointer four seconds later that knotted the score at 57-57 at halftime. Green scored 15 first-half points while Murray tallied 17.
–Field Level Media
