MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Nuggets didn’t have a win yet against a strong team at full strength. It took all 48 minutes to finally secure one Wednesday.

Jamal Murray overcame foul trouble to compile 30 points, eight assists and two blocks in 32 minutes, leading Denver to a 123-118 win over the Grizzlies on Beale Street.

Leading by two with two minutes remaining, Nikola Jokic missed a desperate 3-pointer at the shot-clock buzzer. But Cam Johnson chased down an offensive rebound along the baseline and saved the play with a pass to Aaron Gordon as he fell out of bounds. Gordon returned it to him in the corner, and Johnson slashed for a layup around rookie phenom Cam Boozer, doubling the lead.

A minute later, Jokic found Johnson for a corner 3 to go up seven. Johnson finished with 23 points on a 4-for-7 clip downtown. Jokic had 27 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists, roasting Memphis from midrange in the first half. Christian Braun added 12 points (10 in the opening frame), five boards and four assists.

The Grizzlies still had a chance to tie it in the final moments after Jokic missed a free throw to keep it a one-score game. But Boozer pulled up for a contested, off-balance shot from the left wing that stood no chance. Gordon snatched the rebound and iced the game at the foul line with 4.5 seconds left.

The Nuggets (6-4) outscored Memphis 30-12 in the paint in the first half, leading by as many as 18 en route to a 65-52 advantage at the break. Every substitution seemed to go disastrously in Houston, but the bench fared better this time. With Jokic alongside four reserves for the last three minutes of the first quarter, Denver went minus-one. Then, with Johnson staggering again to start the second frame, the second unit went plus-three, despite Ty Jerome (22 points, five assists) staggering for Memphis.

DeMar DeRozan assisted a Johnson 3-pointer and a Marvin Bagley III 15-footer. Denver got into its sets smoothly with Jones passing ahead to Bagley, chasing the ball into a handoff and giving one to DeRozan as the wing lifted up from the corner. At the other end, Jerome got inside the arc for a couple of buckets with Spencer Jones as his new primary defender and Tyus Jones as the switch to hunt. But it wasn’t quite enough to make a dent.

“Ty Jerome has just been on an absolute heater,” Nuggets coach David Adelman said before opening tip. “He’s really fun to watch. Really cool career arc, to watch him be in the league, survive in the league, and now what he’s doing.”

Indeed, the longtime bench guard has been a flamethrower in an enlarged role. He entered Wednesday as the Grizzlies’ leading scorer, with 26.7 points per game on 50% shooting and 38% from 3. But he struggled to find a rhythm until the second half, with Murray and Braun doing solid defensive work against him in space.

Murray picked up three fouls in the second quarter. Then he got tagged with his fourth a minute after halftime for closing out too aggressively on a corner shooter. It was 68-54 as he sauntered to the bench, replaced by Jones — Spencer, not Tyus — in a brand-new lineup configuration. It was a lot of size and defense, but not much shot creation outside of Jokic. Memphis made the three free throws for Murray’s foul, then expanded it into an 8-0 run.

Gordon was upgraded to second option under the circumstances, but he wasn’t able to generate good looks. He finished 3 for 11 from the field.

Johnson was generally more aggressive throughout the night, as Denver has been urging him to be. But he injured his finger late in the third quarter, not returning until the last five minutes of the game.

“I think Cam’s gotta take the onus on himself too and let it go. Not try to make the perfect play — make a play for himself sometimes,” Adelman said. “You saw it in the Houston game: We had two guys in double figures. That’s not gonna win games. We need other people to step up and score. … When we’ve won games this year, there’s always been a third, fourth, fifth guy.”

It was 85-83 when Murray returned with 2:53 left in the third, replacing Johnson. There was a silver lining to his foul exile: He was fresh for the start of the fourth. The star guard went on a 10-point flurry in five minutes as Denver clung to its lead without Jokic, talking to the fans as he gained momentum and started burying tough shots.

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