TORONTO — Canadian Jamal Murray scored five points in the final 5:01 minutes of play as the Denver Nuggets fought back against the Toronto Raptors for a 127-125 overtime victory on Monday.

Murray, from Kitchener, Ontario, finished with 17 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.

Nikola Jokic led all scorers with 40 points, grabbing 10 rebounds as Denver (1-2) overcame a 15-point deficit. Aaron Gordon fell short of a triple-double with 16 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists.

RJ Barrett of Mississauga, Ont., hit a three-point attempt in the final seconds of overtime that could have been the victory for Toronto (1-3), but it hit the rim. He finished with 20 points, five rebounds and three assists in his first game of the regular season after missing time with a shoulder sprain.

Scottie Barnes and Jakob Poeltl each had a double-double for the Raptors. Poeltl had 16 points and a career-high 19 rebounds, while Barnes was one assist away from a triple-double with 21 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists.

Barnes had to be helped to the bench with 24 seconds left in the fourth after being elbowed in the right eye. He did not return to court.

It was the end of a physical night for Barnes. He was also flagrantly fouled by Nuggets point guard Russell Westbrook early in the fourth quarter. Westbrook and Barnes began snapping at each other after the game, with teammates, coaches and officials having to separate them.

TAKE AWAY

Nuggets: Percentage-wise, this was Denver’s best three-point shooting performance of the young season, making 45 percent of their shots from beyond the arc. But that happened on just 20 three-point attempts, which is woefully low in the modern NBA. This continues an alarming trend for the 2023 NBA champions, who entered Monday’s contest shooting 28.8 percent from three-point range. The Nuggets’ average of 95.5 points over the first two games of their season is the worst in the NBA.

Raptors: Rookies Jamal Shead and Jonathan Mogbo as well as veteran Ochai Agbaji all added spark off the bench. Toronto’s reserves outscored Denver’s 37-24, with Abaji scoring 15, Shead scoring eight and Mogbo recording six.

KEY MOMENT

Murray drove to the net for a layup with 0.1 seconds left in the fourth to tie the game at 114-114 after the Raptors led by as many as 15 points. That punctuated a 13-3 run that allowed Denver to get back into the game. He then added four more points in overtime.

KEY STATUS

The Raptors had 74 points in the paint to Denver’s 68. It was a surprising disparity with Jokic remaining his dominant self, months removed from his third NBA MVP.

FOLLOWING

Nuggets: Visit the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday.

Raptors: Visit the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published October 28, 2024.

John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press