It appeared that the season may be over for the Denver Nuggets for much of Tuesday night’s Game 5 against the Utah Jazz. Utah had a 15-point lead at one point in the fourth quarter.
But Nuggets guard Jamal Murray went off, scoring 33 points of his 42 in the second half, to lead Denver to a season-saving 117-107 win.
Most points in a two-game span in Nuggets playoff history (via Elias Sports):
Jamal Murray: 92
Carmelo Anthony: 74 pic.twitter.com/TbTvKHKQLD— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) August 26, 2020
Murray got it done in a variety of ways offensively (and had zero turnovers), and the most incredible play was this dribble-drive and 360 layup in the third quarter:
Jamal Murray. 😲 pic.twitter.com/l1QFMBkm6v
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) August 26, 2020
And star big man Nikola Jokic added 31 points for Denver, including 7-of-11 on threes.
The Nuggets are a very talented team that some evaluators thought could pose a threat to teams like the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers in a playoff series, so it would’ve been an extreme disappointment for this team to have a first-round playoff exit in just four games.
Denver will look to even up the series in Game 6 on Thursday at 4 p.m. ET in the Orlando bubble.
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.