Nikola Jokic had 28 points, 15 rebounds and a game-saving block on OG Anunoby in the final second, and the visiting Denver Nuggets beat the Toronto Raptors 110-109 on Saturday night.
Jeff Green scored 19 points, Aaron Gordon had 13, Bones Hyland finished with 11 and Will Barton added 10 for Denver.
Pascal Siakam scored a game-high 35 points and added 10 rebounds, Fred VanVleet had 25 points, Scottie Barnes scored 17 and Gary Trent Jr. 11 for the Raptors, who had their eight-game winning streak snapped.
Toronto led by 86-83 after the first three quarters and pushed it to 94-86 on Siakam’s 3-pointer with 9:33 left. Bryn Forbes scored five straight points, and after Dalano Banton split a pair of free throws, DeMarcus Cousins and Austin Rivers made layups to tie it at 95 and force a Raptors timeout with 7:29 left.
Khem Birch missed a 14-footer out of the timeout, and Facu Campazzo made a 3-pointer to put Denver ahead 98-95. Toronto went ahead again on consecutive layups, but the Nuggets regained the lead on a three-point play by Jokic.
Barnes tied it with a jumper, but Hyland’s 3-pointer and Jokic’s tip-in gave Denver a 108-103 lead with 1:34 left. The Raptors got within two on a free throw by VanVleet, but Barton’s fadeaway with 28.8 seconds left made it 110-106.
VanVleet made a 3-pointer and Jokic missed a pair of free throws with 12.2 seconds left. VanVleet missed a 3-pointer, Anunoby got the rebound but Jokic blocked his layup with 0.3 seconds left and Denver held on.
Both teams had eight-point leads in the first half, and Toronto pulled ahead 57-56 at intermission.
The Raptors went ahead by five early in the third and increased it 78-70 on a running 3-pointer by VanVleet with 4:41 left, but the Nuggets responded.
Green started a rally with a 3-pointer, Gordon’s three-point play cut the deficit to one and Green’s dunk gave Denver a 78-77 lead. The teams traded leads before VanVleet’s 3-pointer gave Toronto an 86-83 lead entering the fourth quarter.
–Field Level Media
