Michael Malone praised the Denver Nuggets' character as they came from behind to defeat the Toronto Raptors for their first victory of the NBA season.

The Nuggets appeared set to begin the campaign with three successive losses, as they trailed by 15 points in the third quarter at Scotiabank Arena.

However, they battled back with Jamal Murray's last-gasp layup off a feed from Nikola Jokic, who registered 40 points and 10 rebounds, forcing overtime at 114-114, before going on to record a 127-125 win.

And Malone acknowledged the stakes were high following his side's difficult start to the season.

"It feels great to get a win after the first two [losses] at home," he told reporters during his post-match press conference.

"What I'm most proud about is the way we finished regulation [time], a 13-3 run. It shows the guys just never quit, they kept on fighting, they kept on competing, they kept on believing in themselves and their team-mates.

"In overtime, we got off to a great start; I thought the defence was really good. This felt like a playoff game in game three of the season."

On the game-tying play that forced overtime, he added: "We know that we have the best post-up player in the world [in Jokic]. Let's play through him; let him make the right read.

"And obviously him and Jamal kind of playing off of each other. Jamal makes a hell of a finish with the reverse layup. Everything worked out in our favour."