Sweet-shooting Nuggets get vital road win in Washington

Jamal Murray drilled a three-pointer in transition and then unleashed an arrow. After scoring his 18th, 19th and 20th points of the first half, the Nuggets’ 21-year-old point guard felt emboldened enough to whip out his signature celebration.

The shot pushed Denver’s lead to 13 points with a little more than three minutes remaining in the first half. The Washington Wizards made it close as the game wore on, but the Nuggets managed to hang on for a much-needed 108-100 win.

The Nuggets led by as many as 14 in the first half. Washington clawed back to take a lead late in the third quarter. Denver took the lead for good with 4:06 remaining when Murray sunk his fifth three-pointer of the game. Murray cooled off considerably in the second half, but he still finished with 25 points in the win.

Murray tied Nikola Jokic for the team lead in scoring. Jokic started off slow, but he found his rhythm as the game wore on to post an impressive line: 25 points (10-21 FG), eight rebounds and five assists.

Denver elected to go small around Jokic during crunch time. Wilson Chandler was in at power forward in place of Paul Millsap, who played even though he missed Friday’s shootaround with flu-like symptoms. That move worked out well.

Denver got some big contributions from Will Barton down the stretch. He hit a pair of threes and blocked Kelly Oubre Jr.’s shot in the decisive fourth quarter. Barton hit 5-7 threes.

As a team, Denver connected on 17-34 looks from distance.

The Nuggets (40-33) improved to 2-2 on their seven-game road trip. They have two days off before taking on the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday.