Jamal Murray returns from concussion, Jimmy Butler leaves with injury as Nuggets defeat Heat

DENVER — Jamal Murray’s return from the shelf was a soothing reminder to the Nuggets: Even if he is struggling, their starting lineup is better off with him in it.

Murray scored 28 points after missing the last three games with a concussion, and Denver’s top unit played some of its crispest offensive basketball of the season in a 135-122 win over the Heat on Friday, even with Aaron Gordon out.

Nikola Jokic took only 27 minutes to earn his fifth triple-double in nine games, finishing the night with 30 points, 11 rebounds and 14 assists on 11-of-13 shooting in 40 minutes. Christian Braun continued his red-hot adjustment period with the starting lineup by making his first six shots of the night for 19 points before the perfect game ended. Michael Porter Jr. added with 21 points. And Murray worked around a few sloppy turnovers to make four 3-pointers, grab four rebounds and add six assists in his effective return.

The Nuggets (6-3) have won six of their last seven games after losing the first two of the season.

It didn’t matter that Miami shot 20 of 43 from 3-point range, or that a 26-point lead got whittled to 14 by the end of the third quarter even with Jokic on the floor. Denver’s starting lineup made offense look easy for extended stretches: a 40-point first quarter and a 15-4 run in the first three minutes of the second half. Scoring was balanced. Even Peyton Watson, filling in for an injured Gordon, amassed 16 points.

After Miami put pressure on the Nuggets to protect a somewhat precarious lead without Jokic in the fourth quarter, Michael Malone got as experimental as he’s been all season. Jokic’s rest minutes had been a disaster in the first half — a quick 10-0 Heat run in three minutes and change. So Malone tried a new variation of the second unit.

Instead of Zeke Nnaji at center, nobody played center.

The lineup featured Murray, Porter, Watson, Julian Strawther and Russell Westbrook. Why was Westbrook last? Because if anyone qualified as the five, it was technically him. He was the player selected to guard Bam Adebayo. He got a stop on the first possession of the quarter.

Malone stuck with the unorthodox quintet for a stretch of 4:45.

Heat forward Jimmy Butler limped off the floor six minutes into the game and was quickly ruled out with a right ankle sprain. Watson guarded him with tenacity before the injury, another brief glimpse of the rising defensive prowess of Denver’s 2022 draft duo, Braun and Watson.

Tyler Herro led Miami with 24 points. Adebayo added 20. The Heat, never a team that gives up, made a late push to get the margin as close as seven, but Jokic buried a 3-pointer to stretch the lead back to 13 with 90 seconds left. It also pushed him over the 30-point threshold for the third time this season. The triple-double was the 135th of his career.