MIAMI — Jamal Murray scored 30 factors, Nikola Jokic prolonged his NBA lead along with his seventeenth triple-double of the season and the Denver Nuggets spoiled Jimmy Butler’s return by beating the Miami Warmth 133-113 on Friday night time.
Jokic completed with 24 factors, 12 rebounds and 10 assists. Aaron Gordon added 16 for Denver.
Tyler Herro scored 22 factors for Miami, whereas Butler had 18 in his first sport again from a seven-game suspension. Bam Adebayo completed with 16 factors and 11 rebounds, and Nikola Jovic scored 16 factors for the Warmth.
Nuggets: Denver reached the midpoint of the season at 25-16, permitting the Nuggets to win not less than 60% of their video games for the sixth time within the final seven seasons. Earlier than this streak, the Nuggets had completed .600 or higher simply six instances of their earlier 31 seasons.
Warmth: Miami has misplaced three straight at residence — its longest streak of the season — and all of them have been by double digits: a 13-point loss to Indiana on Jan. 2, a 36-point loss to Utah two nights later and now this lack of 20.
Jokic made a 3-pointer with 4 seconds left within the third quarter, pushing Denver’s result in 12. In any other case, Miami would have been up 9 and with the ball to open the fourth quarter. However Jokic’s 3 began a 14-2 run that put the sport out of Miami’s attain.
Together with two triple-doubles within the NBA Finals video games, Jokic has eight triple-doubles in opposition to Miami. The Nuggets are 8-0 in these video games.
Denver finishes its two-game journey Sunday in Orlando, whereas Miami stays at residence Sunday to face Victor Wembanyama and San Antonio.
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