Canadian guard Jamal Murray scored 39 points on Friday, October 30 as the Denver Nuggets beat the Phoenix Suns 127-120 in Phoenix in an NBA Cup group stage game. Murray scored 28 of his points in the second half and finished 10 of 18 from the floor, including 7 of 9 from three point range.
Christian Braun added 31 points for Denver and three time MVP Nikola Jokic had 18 points and 10 assists, with all five Nuggets starters scoring in double figures. Denver made 20 three pointers and shot 52.6 percent from behind the arc.
Murray Takes Over After Halftime
The game turned on Murray second half. Denver took a 103-93 lead after three quarters and never trailed in the fourth, turning back a Phoenix side that could never get the game within one possession down the stretch. Every time the Suns threatened, Murray or Braun found a shot, and the Nuggets hot shooting night gave Phoenix no margin to chase the game slowly.
Murray finished as the clear headline on a ten game opening night for the NBA Cup. His 39 points came on efficient shooting, not volume alone, and his seven made threes led a Denver attack that spread Phoenix across the floor. Braun 31 points gave Denver a second scorer above 30, a pairing the Suns never solved.
For Canadian fans, this is the tier of performance that has defined Murray best nights in Denver. He is the lead guard on a contender, he closed a road game in a tournament setting, and he did it while Jokic played the connector role with 18 points and 10 assists rather than carrying the scoring load himself.
Phoenix Loses Brooks In Third Quarter
Phoenix stayed in the game behind balance. Miles Bridges scored 24 points to lead the Suns, Devin Booker had 20 points on his 30th birthday, and Collin Gillespie added 16 points and 10 assists off the bench.
The Suns lost a key piece in the third quarter. Forward Dillon Brooks, another Canadian in this matchup, was ejected after he kicked Murray in the groin on a turnaround jumper. Brooks was leading Phoenix with 22 points at the time of the ejection, and his departure removed the Suns top scorer to that point and one of their main defenders on Murray.
Even with that loss, Phoenix kept scoring. What the Suns could not do was get a stop when Denver needed one basket to restore a two possession or three possession cushion. Denver six game winning streak in this series, dating to Christmas Day in 2024, held for another night.
What It Means For Denver
The win gave Denver consecutive victories for the first time this season, a modest line that matters in a crowded Western Conference start. The bigger signal was the shape of the offence. When Murray shoots like this, Denver does not need Jokic to chase 30 points, and Braun scoring 31 shows the Nuggets can win a high scoring Cup game with three different players driving the result.
The NBA Cup context matters too. All ten games on Friday counted toward the group stage, and road wins carry real weight in a short group format. Denver leaves Phoenix with a win built on shot making, late game control, and a Canadian star delivering the biggest individual scoring night by a Nugget in the game.
Booker 20 points on a milestone birthday and Bridges 24 kept Phoenix competitive, but the Suns will look at the third quarter ejection and a fourth quarter spent chasing without ever reaching one possession as the moments that decided it. Denver, by contrast, can point to a simple formula that travels well in November and in the spring: Murray hot from three, Jokic creating for everyone, and enough secondary scoring to close a road game out.
There is also a standings point hidden inside a Cup night. Early season groups reward teams that treat these games as more than a themed regular season date, and Denver played the fourth quarter like a team that understood the margin matters. Phoenix, which lost Brooks at his most productive moment of the night, will feel the opposite side of that lesson. One ejection, one cold stretch against a team shooting above 50 percent from three, and a winnable home game became a chase the Suns never quite finished.
Murray will take the headline, and he earned it with 28 second half points. Braun and Jokic made sure it was a team win behind that headline, and that balance is what separates a good Murray night from a Denver statement night.
