Jamal Murray drove hard to the basket out of a timeout, absorbed the contact by Evan Turner and still pushed the ball into the basket. Then Murray calmly sank what turned out to be the game-winning free throw.
And thus continues a wild week for the Nuggets’ 20-year-old point guard. After spending Wednesday and Thursday in the NBA’s concussion protocol, Murray put up his second consecutive 30-point game by pouring in a career-high 38 to propel the Nuggets to a key 104-101 victory over Portland on Monday night at the Pepsi Center.
The win partially rights Denver’s path, as the Nuggets (24-23) entered Monday 2-6 in their previous eight games to fall out of the Western Conference playoff picture. It also gives Denver a 2-1 series lead over the division rival Trail Blazers (25-22) ahead of their final meeting April 9 at the Pepsi Center.
After Portland led by as many as seven points in the fourth quarter, Denver climbed back to tie the game at 95 on a Murray 3-pointer and take a two-point lead on a Mason Plumlee finish inside. Then after a Damian Lillard finish with about 40 seconds to go gave Portland a 99-97 lead, Murray answered with his old-fashioned three-point play. Portland got three cracks at the game-winning shot, before the ball trickled out of bounds with 9.2 seconds to play. Will Barton sank four free throws after that to seal the win.
“In key moments down the stretch, he wanted the ball,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said of Murray. “Here’s a young kid who’s 20 years old going against an all-star in Damian Lillard. (He was) not afraid of the moment (and had) lots of confidence.”
After scoring 17 points in the first half, Murray took over during the Nuggets’ 8-0 run to start the third and seize a 53-49 lead. He tossed an alley-oop pass to Plumlee for a slam, then dished the ball to Nikola Jokic. Then he pulled down two consecutive defensive rebounds, leading to a tough turnaround jumper and a finger-roll at the rim. Later, Murray buried a 3-pointer to tie the game at 60 about halfway through the third quarter.
Murray’s performance anchored the Nuggets on a night in which they shot 41 percent from the floor and committed 15 turnovers that the Trail Blazers turned into 22 points. Jokic picked up a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds.
“I think I did everything (Coach) told me to do tonight—play with pace, play defense, play my game. That was a win we needed,” Murray said.
A balanced inside-outside effort paced Portland, with Lillard notching 25 points and eight assists and Jusuf Nurkic added 19 points and 12 rebounds in his first game back in Denver with the Trail Blazers after being dealt to them at last season’s trade deadline.
“We all know this was a game we needed to feel good about ourselves … all around, I thought it was a great effort,” Malone said. “I’m proud of our guys, because that’s a division opponent. That’s a team we’re competing with for the playoffs and, more importantly, we just needed a win, just to kind of calm things down and relax a little bit.”
Denver continues its five-game homestand with a Thursday matchup against the New York Knicks.
