DENVER (AP) — Point guard Jamal Murray is back and so is the Denver Nuggets' lethal two-star game alongside Nikola Jokic just in time for the playoffs.
Murray scored 15 points in his return to the Nuggets' lineup Friday night after missing six games with a sprained ankle and he hit a couple of clutch shots in the fourth quarter that helped Denver rally past the Memphis Grizzlies 117-109.
Jokic had his 34th triple-double of the season and in the process became just the third player in NBA history to average a triple-double for the season, joining his current teammate Russell Westbrook and Basketball Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson.
Jokic looked much more comfortable with Murray back on the court with him.
“You could tell he was exhausted,” interim coach David Adelman said. "Jamal is so interesting. The harder it gets, the more tired he gets, the better he plays, as we all know. And to watch those guys play the two-man game at the end, I'd buy a ticket to watch that. It's beautiful.
"And they take their time, they take what's there. It's never forced. And the unselfishness of the other three guys to get out of the way ... and watch those guys play, it's been working for a long time. It's historically incredible to watch. Like I said, it's a playoff game. And those two guys, when it gets really intense, it seems like they breathe real easy.”
The Nuggets closed the game on a 14-1 run and Adelman said, “One point given up in the last six minutes is absolutely incredible. It looked like who we've been. We're a team that's won big games for a long time. We understand the DNA of that kind of game. and we have it, and those guys just stayed with it.”
Murray had a pair of baskets in the closing run to finish 5-of-12 from the floor while Jokic scored eight of his 26 points in those final six minutes of dominance.
“I was trying to shoot myself into rhythm,” Murray said. “It's been six games. That's enough to take you out of your rhythm a little bit. ... It was good to see the ball go in, but I'm just happy for everybody that got in the game. Everybody played well, we played with energy and urgency like there was something on the line because there was.”
Murray logged 32 minutes in his return. He also had seven assists and five defensive rebounds.
Murray had last played March 26 against the Milwaukee Bucks. During his absence, the Nuggets lost a season-high four consecutive games, a skid that culminated with the Tuesday firings of coach Michael Malone and general manager Calvin Booth, who helped bring Denver its first NBA title in 2023 but who had long clashed.
Denver, which snapped its skid with a 124-116 win at Sacramento on Thursday night, is 2-0 under Adelman. The Nuggets wrap up the regular season Sunday at Houston.
Josh Kroenke, the vice chairman of Kroenke Sports and Entertainment, said he was hopeful the odd timing of the dismissals would spark the Nuggets heading into the playoffs.
“If that doesn't spark you up, then something's wrong with you, bro,” Murray said.
A favorite of Malone's, Murray added, "Coach always had my back from a young kid coming into this league up until now. He's always rooted for me. He always had my back and was always getting me in good spirits, so I want to give that same energy to him, the same kind of respect. We don't get here without him.
“He always hated to lose. He was always setting the tone in that regard. So, it (stinks) to see him go like that, especially the way it happened this late. But we're still going to maintain contact.”
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Injured Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray, center, looks on from the bench in the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Indiana Pacers, Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran's supreme leader insisted Saturday that “rioters must be put in their place” after a week of protests that have shaken the Islamic Republic, likely giving security forces a green light to aggressively put down the demonstrations.
The first comments by 86-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei come as violence surrounding the demonstrations sparked by Iran's ailing economy has killed at least 10 people. The protests show no sign of stopping and follow U.S. President Donald Trump warning Iran on Friday that if Tehran “violently kills peaceful protesters,” the United States “will come to their rescue.”
While it remains unclear how and if Trump will intervene, his comments sparked an immediate, angry response, with officials within the theocracy threatening to target American troops in the Mideast. They also take on new importance after Trump said Saturday that the U.S. military captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, a longtime ally of Tehran.
The protests, have become the biggest in Iran since 2022, when the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody triggered nationwide demonstrations. However, the protests have yet to be as widespread and intense as those surrounding the death of Amini, who was detained over not wearing her hijab, or headscarf, to the liking of authorities.
Speaking to an audience in Tehran, state television aired remarks by Khamenei that sought to separate the concerns of protesting Iranians upset about the rial's collapse to “rioters.”
“We talk to protesters, the officials must talk to them,” Khamenei said. “But there is no benefit to talking to rioters. Rioters must be put in their place.”
He also reiterated a claim constantly made by officials in Iran, that foreign powers like Israel or the United States were pushing the protests, without offering any evidence. He also blamed “the enemy” for Iran's collapsing rial.
“A bunch of people incited or hired by the enemy are getting behind the tradesmen and shopkeepers and chanting slogans against Islam, Iran and the Islamic Republic," he said. "This is what matters most.”
Two deaths overnight into Saturday involved a new level of violence. In Qom, home to the country's major Shiite seminaries, a grenade exploded, killing a man there, the state-owned IRAN newspaper reported. It quoted security officials alleging the man was carrying the grenade to attack people in the city, some 130 kilometers (80 miles) south of the capital, Tehran.
Online videos from Qom purportedly showed fires in the street overnight.
The second death happened in the town of Harsin, some 370 kilometers (230 miles) southwest of Tehran. There, the newspaper said, a member of the Basij, the all-volunteer arm of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, died in a gun and knife attack in the town in Kermanshah province.
Demonstrations have reached over 100 locations in 22 of Iran’s 31 provinces, the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reported.
Iran’s civilian government under reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian has been trying to signal it wants to negotiate with protesters. However, Pezeshkian has acknowledged there is not much he can do as Iran’s rial has rapidly depreciated. That sparked the initial protests.
The protests, taking root in economic issues, have heard demonstrators chant against Iran’s theocracy as well. Tehran has had little luck in propping up its economy in the months since its June war with Israel in which the U.S. also bombed Iranian nuclear sites in Iran.
Iran recently said it was no longer enriching uranium at any site in the country, trying to signal to the West that it remains open to potential negotiations over its atomic program to ease sanctions. However, those talks have yet to happen as Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have warned Tehran against reconstituting its atomic program.
In this photo released by an official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks in a meeting, in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)
In this photo released by the official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei attends a meeting, in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)
FILE - In this photo released by an official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks in a ceremony to mark the Shiite holiday of Eid al-Ghadir, in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, June 25, 2024. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP, File)
