TORONTO – Kyle Lowry had 13 points and 13 assists, Jonas Valanciunas added 18 points and 12 rebounds, and the Toronto Raptors rallied to beat the Denver Nuggets 112-107 in overtime Monday night.
Lou Williams scored 26, and Amir Johnson had 18 for the Raptors, who trailed by five points with less than three minutes to play but got a tying 3-pointer from Patrick Patterson with 28 seconds left.
Patterson finished 5-for-7 from 3-point range, while his teammates were a combined 4-for-26.
Patterson had 19 points, and Terrence Ross 16 for Toronto, which leads the Eastern Conference with a 16-5 record.
The late rally helped Toronto extend its streak of wins when taking a lead into the fourth quarter. The Raptors, who led 82-81 through three, have won 39 consecutive games in such circumstances, dating to last season – including 28 in a row at home.
Toronto’s last loss when leading after three was April 1, 2013, against Detroit.
Ty Lawson had 22 points and 12 assists, and Timofey Mozgov had 15 points and 12 rebounds for Denver, which made just 2-of-10 field goal attempts in overtime and lost its fourth in a row.
Arron Afflalo scored 25, and Wilson Chandler added 18 for the Nuggets, who had won seven of their previous 10 visits to Toronto.
Denver’s Kenneth Faried (back), JaVale McGee (left leg) and Nate Robinson (back) were unavailable for the second consecutive game. With Randy Foye (right leg) and Jusuf Nurkic (personal) also unavailable, the Nuggets had just 10 players.
A tip-in by Darrell Arthur on Chandler’s missed jumper at 10:15 of the fourth gave Denver an 86-84 lead, its first since the opening quarter.
Ross banked in a jump shot at 5:19, bringing the Raptors to 92-91, but Ross missed two 3-pointers and Lowry missed a third while Lawson made back-to-back layups, putting Denver up 96-91 at 3:11.
Johnson had a chance to tie the game at the free throw line with 1:24 remaining but missed his second shot, leaving Toronto trailing 100-99.
Afflalo put Denver up three with a jump shot, but Patterson answered with a tying 3, knotting it at 102 with 28 seconds left.
After a timeout, the Nuggets turned the ball over on a shot clock violation, giving possession to the Raptors with 4 seconds remaining. Lowry took the final shot, but missed his 3 at the buzzer.
Chandler opened the scoring in overtime with a 3, but Toronto replied with 10 straight points to win for the third time in four games.
Denver became the eighth straight opponent to score 100 points or more against Toronto, extending the longest such streak since Dwane Casey took over as coach in 2011.
Valanciunas had 10 points and five rebounds in the first as the Raptors led 35-30 after one.
Williams scored nine points, including a pair of 3-pointers, as the Raptors surged ahead with a 14-2 run to start the second. Denver missed its first eight field goal attempts of the second before Chandler hit a reverse layup at 7:07, by which time the Nuggets trailed by 15. Toronto led 62-52 at halftime.
Afflalo scored 12 in the third and Mozgov had nine as the Nuggets fought back, cutting the deficit to 82-81 heading into the fourth.
