Nuggets make sure eight is enough for Raptors
Jokic delivers in the clutch to propel Denver to victory and end Toronto’s win streak
Nikola Jokic might be known as The Joker, but he and the Denver Nuggets definitely aren’t a joke.
The seven-foot Serbian’s brilliant offensive mind was on full display as he and an excellent Denver side cooled off the Raptors 106-103 Monday night in a game that came down to the wire.
Toronto, which saw its eightgame win streak end, took its first lead since the second quarter just inside of the final minute thanks to a Kawhi Leonard jumper. But Jokic, who had a triple-double with 23 points, 15 assists and 11 rebounds, was clutch down the stretch, hitting a shot and then several free throws, including one after a horrific Serge Ibaka decision to wrap him up away from the ball.
Kyle Lowry, who had just five points on 1-for-7 shooting, missed a three-pointer at the buzzer.
Leonard had tied the game before Ibaka’s bad decision, with only seven seconds remaining.
Denver improved to 16-7, while Toronto fell to 20-5. Leonard had 27 points and eight rebounds. Kitchener, Ont.’s Jamal Murray had 21 points, eight assists, and seven rebounds for the Nuggets.
The start of the game hardly foreshadowed what was to come.
Denver had assists on the team’s first six baskets. Not to be outdone, Toronto players had assists on the Raptors’ first eight, with Lowry supplying the helper on four of those baskets. From there, things bogged down quite a bit, with neither side able to connect on shots, despite consistently stellar setups.
The Raptors shot 3-for-22 from three in the first half, got to the free-throw line only four times and were dominated on the boards (second-chance points were 17-2 in favour of Denver at that point). They trailed 86-78 after three quarters, setting up the thrilling, see-saw finish.
Toronto roared back and threatened to pull ahead when the referees botched a foul call on Jonas Valanciunas, allowing Denver to shoot three free throws, plus another when irate Raptors coach Nick Nurse expressed his displeasure. To the credit of the Raptors, the team pushed back once more and nearly pulled it out, with Danny Green missing a pair of threepointers at one crucial point late.
Jokic simply sees things most others don’t, a major reason Denver came in fourth in the league in both assists per game and the percentage of shots that are assisted on. The Nuggets assisted on 32 of 40 baskets.
Toronto lost to a Western Conference opponent for just the second time all year (New Orleans) and hosts Jimmy Butler and the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday.
NURSE HONOURED
So much for an adjustment curve for Nurse.
After leading the Raptors to a league-leading 19-5 record in his first weeks on the job as an NBA head coach, Nurse was named Monday as the East’s coach of the month.
Nurse joins reigning coach of the year Dwane Casey, Sam Mitchell and Lenny Wilkens as the only coaches in franchise history to be selected as top coach of the month and is the first rookie coach to win since Luke Walton with Golden State in 2015.
Under Nurse, Toronto is one of only three teams ranked in the top 10 in both offensive and defensive efficiency and players like Pascal Siakam and Ibaka have thrived, while Leonard has made an easy adjustment to the team.
Nurse was humble about the achievement.
“I wasn’t sitting around waiting to see who won it or anything like that,” he said.
“I’ve said it a lot, I’ve been given a really good job, great players, great organization. I feel like I’ve been given a Lamborghini to drive and I’m just trying to not drive it like a 1973 Dodge Monaco or something like that. I’m just trying to drive it like a Lamborghini.”
Speaking of Leonard, he earned a player-of-the-week nod, probably not his last as a Raptor, after averaging 29.3 points, 9.0 rebounds and 53 per cent shooting from beyond the arc in three wins.
CANADIAN HOMECOMING
There’s an excellent case to be made that Murray is Canada’s best player.
Murray drew a crowd for his lone appearance north of the border on Monday morning and defended the reputation of Canucks, after some recent, misplaced bad press.
“It’s kind of weird because they call Canadians soft and they always harp on that and now they call me evil, so pick one, you can’t have both, man,” Murray said, referencing a couple of times where opposing players were upset with Murray’s sportsmanship.
He plays hard and tries to win. He’s not trying to show anybody up.
“I just go out there and compete. That’s the biggest thing. I love to challenge people. You get to see who the real people are when you challenge people, they take it with grain of salt and challenge you back or they just get frustrated, so you see the real people when they get challenged,” Murray said.
Nuggets head coach Mike Malone said Murray has “a great personality, he’s a hard worker, and I love coaching him.”
Murray was the rare Canadian star to stay in the country to finish his high school career ( before going on to set a freshman scoring record at Kentucky and then become a high lottery pick) and it sounds like he wishes he could visit more often.
“This is home, this is always a special place to walk into, knowing the area, knowing the streets and all that, knowing where to go off the court. It’s good to be back home, good to see my fam, my friends and everyone who’s going to be at the game,” Murray said.
I feel like I’ve been given a Lamborghini to drive and I’m just trying to not drive it like a 1973 Dodge Monaco or something like that. NICK NURSE, Raptors head coach