The Nuggets might have found another critical role player.
The Denver Nuggets needed a win on Friday night, and they got one in dramatic fashion.
Denver rallied from an 11-point deficit in the second half to beat the Toronto Raptors 121-115 at Ball Arena, improving to 43-28 on the season while snapping a frustrating stretch that saw the team go just 5-5 over their previous ten games.
Jamal Murray led all scorers with 31 points on 18 shots, Nikola Jokic added 22 points and nine rebounds, and Tim Hardaway Jr. caught fire from deep with 23 points on 7-of-10 shooting from three.
But after the game, Murray wanted to talk about someone else, and the comparison he used carries real weight in Denver.
Murray Sees Shades of Bruce Brown
When asked about Spencer Jones and the role he has carved out this season, Murray did not hesitate to draw a connection to Bruce Brown, the versatile guard who played a key part in Denver's 2023 championship run.
"Yeah, he's kind of been similar to Bruce [Brown], just the way he's impacting the game on both ends," Murray said. "He's just finding the gap in the defense, being patient, not rushing it. He could have shot a floater two or three times in a row, but no he found the open guy. Like I said, it was just guys playing really good basketball today. I could rave about guys, but guys played good basketball today, both ends. That's why we won."
That is high praise from Murray, who is averaging 25.1 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 7.1 assists per game in what has been a career year.
Jones Has Found His Niche in Denver
The comparison to Brown is fitting because, like Brown, Jones is not going to fill up the box score every night.
His numbers are modest on the surface, averaging 5.8 points and 3.3 rebounds while shooting 50.4 percent from the floor and 40.6 percent from three across 57 games.
But those percentages tell the story of a player who understands his role and executes within it, making the right play instead of forcing the wrong one.
Jones came off the bench against Toronto after Aaron Gordon returned to the starting lineup, but he still made his presence felt.
When the Nuggets went small with Jones at center in the fourth quarter, that unit helped spark the comeback that turned the game around, with Denver's switchable defense creating problems for the Raptors down the stretch.
It has been quite a journey for the Stanford product, who went undrafted in 2024 and averaged just 1.3 points per game as a rookie.
The Nuggets believed in him enough to convert his two-way contract to a standard deal over the All-Star break, and that belief has paid off.
In 21 starts this season, Jones has averaged 8.7 points while shooting 53.6 percent from the floor and 41.4 percent from three.
Nuggets Trying to Climb the Standings
The win over the Raptors (39-30) was an important one for a Nuggets team that is battling for positioning in a tight Western Conference race.
Denver is sixth in the West but remains within striking distance of the teams above them, and head coach David Adelman has stressed that his players need to be locked into the standings every single day.
Wins like Friday's are the kind that build momentum heading into the final stretch.
Denver hosts the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday night.