Two days after chastising his team over a rough loss to a shorthanded Memphis Grizzlies squad, Denver Nuggets head coach David Adelman praised his team after a comeback 121-115 win over the Toronto Raptors.  

The Nuggets trailed by nine points heading into the fourth quarter after being outscored in the third, 41-28. However, they flipped a switch in the final 12 minutes, and Adelman credited their defense for it.  

“Defensive intensity,” Adelman said. “I thought we kind of sped them up as opposed to what they did to us in the third quarter, and then Jamal [Murray] is really special during that time offensively. That's the thing, you have to score to set your defense to really one through five switch, get into people.  

By him getting to the line, making shots, getting us back and set, we really impacted, I thought, them on the defensive end.” 

Murray was an offensive catalyst for Denver in the fourth quarter; scoring 12 points by hitting three of his four shots and making all five of his free throws. Murray also logged three assists in that span. By the final buzzer, he had a game-high 31 points on 10-18 shooting while going 9-10 at the free throw line.

  Additionally, Adelman praised Aaron Gordon’s defensive effort.  

“21 points that quarter, and I thought at the end of the game, AG [Aaron Gordon] was tremendous defensively, just guarding people one-on-one,” Adelman said. “We tried to move Nikola [Jokić] around as much as we could. That game was very playoff-like from both teams. The physicality, the different lineups, star players having moments. So, just a really good home win for us." 

Gordon finished the game with 16 points on 6-10 shooting from the field. After missing over a month due to re-aggravating a right hamstring strain on Jan. 23 against the Milwaukee Bucks, Gordon has played in six games in March and has averaged 13.5 points while shooting 41.7% from 3-point range. 

After securing the win, Adelman also touched on what it meant for the team to overcome the deficit and rise to victory when at different points of the season those desired results have not always come to fruition. For Adelman, it is why exercising patience in the league is crucial, but he cannot get caught up with this victory when he must prepare for Sunday’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers. 

Adelman also said that while it has been up and down for the Nuggets this season, he has extreme confidence in the group. Currently, Denver sits at 43-28 — good for fifth place in the Western Conference. 

The Nuggets have 11 regular season games left, many of which are against formidable opponents. As of Saturday, they share the same record with the Minnesota Timberwolves, and Minnesota, Denver and the Houston Rockets are each within striking distance of one another.  

There is not much room for error with the Nuggets, and Friday’s win was good, but there are many more important matchups to go that will ultimately decide seeding in the postseason.