TORONTO — The Denver Nuggets have 79 games left to prove themselves a championship contender. So far it’s a work in progress. The outlines of the team that won the 2023 NBA title are visible — mainly in the form of three-time MVP Nikola Jokic — but everything else required to fill in the frame remains blurry.
Even Canada’s Jamal Murray has yet to come into focus.
The Toronto Raptors are a team no one is looking for to prove anything. They are light on experienced depth, still missing key pieces due to injury — and may have lost another key player in Scottie Barnes — and relying on the contributions of some unheralded rookies to fill out head coach Darko Rajakovic’s rotation.
They are not a team that the Nuggets should struggle with, or conversely, the Raptors aren’t a team that should push one like Denver to the limit. But that was very much the case on Monday night as the Raptors forced the Nuggets into overtime before falling 127-125 to drop to 1-3 on the season. Denver got its first win and left town 1-2.
The Raptors' determination in the game — and maybe so far in what has been a reasonably positive start to the season — became obvious early in the fourth quarter when Barnes climbed high to score in transition and Nuggets veteran guard Russell Westbrook recklessly grabbed his arms with no real chance to make a play on the ball. It was a dangerous play, and Barnes was up off his feet quickly to let Westbrook — who was assessed a flagrant foul — know all about it. Barnes ended up pushing and shoving with Denver’s Aaron Gordon. Each was assessed a technical, but Barnes' fire was evident.
“Scotty defended himself, as he should, I was right there with my one good shoulder,” said RJ Barrett, who made his season debut after missing the Raptors' first three starts and almost all of the pre-season schedule with a shoulder sprain. “We’re not going to back down from anyone.”
Barnes wasn’t hurt on that play, but he was when he had to leave the game with 24 seconds left in regulation after taking an inadvertent elbow to his eye from Jokic. “Just a fight for the ball,” Jokic said. Barnes was clearly in a lot of pain, but there were no post-game updates on his condition.
Still, the Raptors took his lead. While the Nuggets — who had trailed since the end of the first quarter — had the game as close as four with 8:07 to play, the Raptors were able to find some separation as the period went on. Gradey Dick — mostly silent on the night — got fouled on a three-point attempt and made all of them and then hit another three. He finished with 15 points in 13 shots in 37 minutes. Another Dick triple, a breakaway lay-up by Ochai Agbaji (15 points, six rebounds and a steal in 29 minutes off the bench) and a spectacular blocked shot by Barnes in transition to clean up his own turnover had a Monday night crowd at Scotiabank Arena roaring. A Barnes triple — he finished with 21 points, 12 rebounds, nine assists and five steals in 35 minutes — had Toronto up by 10 with just over two minutes to play.
Unfortunately, nothing got easier after that. Jokic found his way to the front of the rim at will, and he scored 17 of his game-high 40 (to go along with 10 rebounds and four assists) in the final frame. The Raptors looked a little lost after Barnes left the game. Missing four three throws in the final two minutes didn’t help their cause. It cost them as Murray — in a somewhat muted homecoming to that point — swooped in with a spectacular baseline drive and reverse finish at the buzzer to force the overtime period, the game tied 114-114.
Murray finished with 17 points on 6-of-20 shooting but grabbed nine rebounds and seven assists. It’s been a relatively slow start to the season for Murray — he came in averaging just 17 points a game on 40.7 per cent shooting — and his struggles at the end of last season for Denver and at the Olympics for Canada have been much discussed, but his coach is seeing the right signs.
“I know when Jamal’s right when he’s aggressive … it’s not just scoring, it’s not three-point percentage … scoring, playmaking, rebounding, defending — that’s when you’re getting the best version of Jamal Murray,” said Nuggets head coach Michael Malone. “Because he can impact the game at a high level across the board. He’s not a specialist. Yes we need him to be aggressive, but he’s also responsible for being a guy that can impact the game in all these different areas.”
In overtime, the Nuggets finally flashed their championship pedigree. Jokic opened overtime with a post score, Murry followed up with a three-point play and Jokic hit a deep triple and suddenly the Raptors were down 122-116 with 3:47 to play.
The Raptors didn’t fold and had the game within two when Barrett went for the win, pushing the pace on a Nuggets missed three and pulling up for a three in transition with four seconds on the clock.
For most of the night, Barrett had looked like he hadn’t missed any time at all. He was at his best in the first five minutes of the game when he had nine points on five shots in five minutes, scoring on bully drives, sharp cuts and relaxed threes as the Raptors jumped to an early lead. He had another nice spurt early in the third quarter as the Raptors pushed their 62-56 halftime lead to 15.
“It was fun. It was fun to get back out there just, you know, playing with this team,” said Barrett. “So, yeah, no, I definitely had a good time, besides, obviously the loss."
In the end, Barrett was determined to go for the win, choosing not to second guess his decision to pull up for three rather than try to get all the way to the basket. Regardless, even though his three-point attempt missed the Raptors had a couple of chances at a putback that would have forced a second overtime, but Agbaji and Jakob Poeltl both came up short. Rajakovic said he didn’t want to call timeout, preferring to trust his players to find something in the open court rather than try to score against a set defence, and Barrett said that was fine with him.
“I'm comfortable taking that shot. I'm happy with the shot I took,” said Barrett, who finished with 20 points on 9-of-21 shooting in 29 minutes. “That's just who I am. It's who I've always been. I'll take the shot again. That's just, I don't know. That's just who RJ Barrett is.”
Regardless of the result, the Raptors are providing more encouragement early in a rebuilding season than most would have expected.
“I told guys that I don't believe in moral victories. I believe in winning,” Rajakovic said later. “And I thought we competed for the big part of the game… I think it's going to be through games like this we’re going to get better.”
It’s an easy assignment for a rebuilding team like Toronto: Find positives. In an overtime loss to Denver, there were plenty.
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