Late NBA finals: Denver’s bench answers, Curry heats up and Utah rallies

Denver’s reserves finished off the Lakers, Golden State’s shooting buried Portland and Utah completed a late comeback in the three late NBA preseason games Friday.

The Nuggets beat Los Angeles 121-106, the Warriors defeated the Trail Blazers 128-118 and the Jazz edged Phoenix 119-116.

Denver’s second unit answers the Lakers

Los Angeles cut Denver’s lead to two early in the fourth quarter, but Marvin Bagley III and DeMar DeRozan helped the Nuggets pull away. With Tyus Jones setting up the offense, Denver turned a 94-91 lead into 102-91 on eight straight points.

Jamal Murray led seven Nuggets in double figures with 21 points. Nikola Jokić had 17 points and eight assists, while Bagley contributed 13 points and eight rebounds off the bench. Austin Reaves scored 19 for the Lakers, who finished preseason at 2-3.

Read the Nuggets-Lakers recap.

Curry and Horford supply Golden State’s threes

Stephen Curry scored 10 of his 20 points in the third quarter as Golden State took control at Chase Center. Al Horford made five three-pointers off the bench, and the Warriors finished with 18 threes overall.

Yaxel Lendeborg and Brandin Podziemski added 17 points apiece. Damian Lillard scored 23 for Portland and made all 13 of his free throws, but the Blazers could not erase a deficit that reached 25. Golden State finished preseason at 4-2; Portland was 3-1.

Read the Warriors-Blazers recap.

Peterson helps Utah finish its rally

The Jazz trailed by 13 in the third quarter before outscoring Phoenix 29-21 in the fourth. Darryn Peterson’s floater with 2:16 remaining put Utah ahead for good, and he made two free throws with 21.4 seconds left to help seal it.

Lauri Markkanen led Utah with 19 points, including 15 before halftime. Peterson finished with 13 points, six rebounds and six assists, while Brice Sensabaugh scored 16 off the bench.

Ace Bailey added 12 points on three field-goal attempts and made five free throws. The Jazz ended preseason at 3-1 and head to Memphis for Wednesday’s regular-season opener.

Read the Jazz-Suns recap.

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