TORONTO - Al Harrington scored 31 points off the bench Friday and George Karl picked up his 1,000th coaching win as the Denver Nuggets defeated the Toronto Raptors 123-116.

Linas Kleiza, who played four seasons with Denver, scored 26 off the bench with 11-for-16 shooting for the Raptors (8-15).

Nene added 26 points and Chauncey Billups had 21 for the for the Nuggets (14-8).

Andrea Bargnani scored 24 points, Leandro Barbosa chipped in with 22 off the bench and Sonny Weems scored 21 for Toronto, which has dropped four straight.

The 59-year-old Karl -- who is the seventh NBA coach to reach the 1,000-win mark -- has faced cancer twice, with the most recent bout coming last season. He acknowledged a fight with throat and neck cancer right after the all-star game and coached for three weeks while undergoing treatment. Karl missed the final 14 games of the regular season and the Nuggets short playoff run.

Both the Raptors and Nuggets played without a key starter Friday. Denver forward Carmelo Anthony missed his second game in a row with right knee patella tendinitis, while Raptors point guard Jose Calderon didn't play because of a sore left foot and a cold.

Denver took a 12-point lead into the fourth quarter thanks to a 59.3 shooting percentage.

The Raptors crept to within 10 but Harrington answered with a three-pointer as the shot clock expired with seven minutes left. The Raptors were again within 10 after Jerryd Bayless, who was 0-for-8 from the floor until that point, hit a three with six minutes left.

Weems hit a three of his own to cut the lead to seven but J.R. Smith answered with another three-pointer for the Nuggets. Kleiza continued the long-range shooting, burying another three as the Raptors again cut the Denver lead to seven with 2:18 to play.

Bargnani's three-pointer cut it to four with 46.9 seconds left but the lead was back up to six when Billups hit two free throws with 19.5 seconds to go. Bargnani then missed a three as Toronto's comeback fizzled.

The Nuggets opened the second half with a nine-point lead and extended it to 15 five minutes into the third. Gary Forbes, who had two points in the first half, picked 13 in the third as Denver led 98-86 heading to the fourth.

With Calderon out, the Raptors started Bayless at point guard and ran a simplified offence for the player acquired from New Orleans on Nov. 20.

The Nuggets lost two in a row entering Friday's game, which was tied 27-27 in the opening quarter before Denver surged in the final two minutes to take a 39-33 lead into the second.

The Raptors took a 43-42 lead on Barbosa's driving layup after Ty Lawson turned the ball over with a bad pass. The Raptors used consecutive threes by Bargnani and Kleiza to tie the game then take a 59-56 lead midway through the quarter in a free-flowing game.

But the Nuggets were again strong in the late stages of the quarter and took a 74-65 lead into the intermission, led by Harrington's 19 points off the bench, a first-half total that was matched by Kleiza.

The Nuggets shot 62.5 per cent from the field in a first half that included going 8-for-16 from three-point range. The Raptors shot 52.7 per cent from the field but were just 4-for-14 from three-point range.

Notes: The Raptors recalled rookie centre Solomon Alabi from Erie of the NBA D-League on Thursday. ... Raptors assistant coach Alex English is the Nuggets all-time leading scorer and his No. 2 hangs from the rafters at the Pepsi Center in Denver. ... Raptors forward Peja Stojakovic missed his seventh game in a row with a swollen left knee. ... Denver forward Chris Andersen missed his fourth game in a row with a left lower back transverse process fracture. ... Karl won his 900th game in Toronto on Dec. 31, 2008. ... Attendance at Air Canada Centre was 14,714. ... Toronto plays at Detroit on Saturday.