Jamal Murray scored 28 points, Nikola Jokic had 26 points and 14 rebounds and hit all 18 of his free-throw attempts, and the host Denver Nuggets beat the Golden State Warriors 120-114 on Monday.
For the Nuggets, Aaron Gordon contributed 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Michael Porter Jr. finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Denver has won eight of the previous nine games and five in a row.
Golden State’s top scorers were Andrew Wiggins, who scored 22 points off the bench, Stephen Curry, who scored 18, Dario Saric, who scored 14, Jonathan Kuminga, Chris Paul, and Brandin Podziemski, who each scored 13. The Warriors’ winning run of five games was broken.
The Nuggets led by as many as 10 in the first quarter but Golden State rallied in a back-and-forth second. The Warriors put together a 15-3 run that gave them a 43-37 lead but Murray had seven points in a 9-2 run by Denver.
Curry didn’t score until he made a free throw with 5:46 left in the second quarter and finished with four points in the half but Golden State was able to take a 54-53 at intermission.
The teams continued to trade blows throughout the third quarter, with Curry and Murray dueling early in the period that resulted in the Warriors leading 65-63. Jokic made two free throws to put the Nuggets ahead by four and Caldwell-Pope made a corner 3-pointer to increase the lead to 81-75.
The Nuggets led by three entering the fourth but Golden State scored the first six points to go in front 95-92. Porter made a layup and Jokic fed Murray for a reverse dunk to give Denver a 100-97 lead.
Jokic and Wiggins traded baskets to keep the Nuggets in front by a point before they went on a small run to expand the lead to 114-107 with 2:02 left.