In the opening game of their second-round series against the Phoenix Suns, Jamal Murray led Denver Nuggets with 34 points and six of the team's 16 three-pointers made.
In the opening game of their second-round series against the Phoenix Suns, Jamal Murray led Denver Nuggets with 34 points and six of the team’s 16 three-pointers made. Aaron Gordon finished with 23 points for the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, while Nikola Jokic, the reigning back-to-back NBA MVP, scored 24 points and pulled down 19 rebounds. However, this was the Murray Show, where he made 6 of his 10 attempts from beyond the arc while frequently urging the already rowdy audience to raise their voices. “He’s a bad man,” Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone said “Jamal Murray lives for this.”
Devin Booker and Chris Paul each contributed 11 points, while Kevin Durant led the Suns with 29 points and 14 rebounds. In a series victory over the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round, Booker averaged 37.2 points per game. “I thought that they were just more physical, played with more force,” Suns coach Monty Williams said. “We’ve got to regroup and do a much better job of playing with pace on offence.” Compared to the Suns’ second-round sweep of the Denver Nuggets two years ago, this playoff series is different. Denver was without Murray at the time due to an ACL injury. Murray is showing off his 2020 form in the NBA bubble now that he is healthy, helping Denver get to the Western Conference finals. Jamal just continues to add to the legend of playoff Jamal,” Malone said. Murray had the best play of the game when he intercepted a pass, outran defenders Paul and Durant, and swished a layup high off the rim. The entire crowd rose to their feet.
With less than 7 minutes left, the dynamic point guard continued to energise the crowd by making a 3-pointer. He even put his hand to his ear to get them to make more noise.
With 7:40 left in the game, the Denver Nuggets were up 106-95 and went on a 14-0 run to win it. Denver increased its home record to 38-7 during the regular season and playoffs and led by as much as 25 points. The Nuggets outscored the Suns by a score of 48-21 from beyond the arc, which made the difference. Along with that, the Suns had 16 turnovers, including seven by Durant. “I’ve got to be way more careful with the ball,” Durant said. “I’ve to look to either shoot the ball or make the correct pass. … I dang got near half our turnovers. We’ll be fine. I think we’ve just got to play with confidence, shoot with confidence and see what happens next game.”
The Nuggets employed a large number of defenders to stop Durant. He shot 12 of 19 from the field but just 1 of 3 from beyond the arc. To pass Karl Malone (4,761) and take over seventh place on the NBA’s postseason points leaderboard, Durant needs to accrue 4,730 more playoff points.
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