Nikola Jokic hit a 20-foot jumper with 1.2 seconds left and the host Denver Nuggets rallied from 21 down to beat the Philadelphia 76ers 100-97 on Friday night.
Jokic scored 16 of his game-high 26 points in the fourth quarter and also had 11 rebounds. Jamal Murray had 22 points and 11 assists, Will Barton scored 20 points and Paul Millsap finished with 15 for Denver, which has won three straight.
Joel Embiid had 19 points, 15 rebounds and eight turnovers before fouling out, Tobias Harris scored 13 and grabbed 10 boards and Raul Neto had 13 points for the Sixers, who played without guard Ben Simmons. Philadelphia has lost three straight on a four-game road trip after winning its first five.
Simmons suffered a mild sprain to the AC joint in his right shoulder during Wednesday’s loss at Utah.
Philadelphia led 91-77 midway through the fourth when Denver rallied. Jokic hit consecutive layups to bring Denver within 91-83 with 4:43 left, and after free throws by Embiid, Jokic and Millsap hit 3-pointers to get the Nuggets within 93-91.
They had a chance to tie but Josh Richardson stole the ball and fed Harris for an alley-oop that made it 95-91 with 1:29 left. Barton hit a 3-pointer, Embiid and Murray traded layups and Al Horford shot an airball with 13 seconds left.
Denver called timeout and got the ball inside to Millsap, who was triple-teamed. He passed to Jokic, who hit a high-arching shot to put the Nuggets up 98-97.
Embiid was called for an offensive foul on the next play and Barton closed it out with two free throws.
The Nuggets trailed by 15 at halftime but go within 61-54 early in the third quarter. The Sixers responded with seven straight points later in the third, and then a 3-pointer and a three-point play by Embiid gave Philadelphia an 84-65 lead heading into the fourth.
The Sixers scored the first bucket of the fourth but then the Nuggets went on a 10-0 run, capped by a 3-pointer from Jokic to make it 86-75 with 9:05 left.
–Field Level Media
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