DENVER – Jamal Murray didn’t even see the biggest basket of his career. At least he didn’t live, he didn’t live.
Murray made a 15-foot step-back pass over Anthony Davis at the buzzer on Monday night, giving the Denver Nuggets a stunning 101-99 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers and capping a comeback from a 20-point second-half deficit .
Murray fell onto the Nuggets bench along with Davis as his shot fell into the net and the roar of the crowd shook Ball Arena.
“I just lost my balance and fell. I guess AD was in my way or someone was in my way and I heard everyone scream and that’s how I knew it happened,” said Murray, who was surrounded by his teammates after his bucket gave the reigning NBA champions their tenth consecutive victory over the Lakers.
Most importantly, it gave Denver a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference first-round series, which shifts to Los Angeles for Game 3 on Thursday night.
Murray missed 13 of his first 16 shots and was easily the most confused, exhausted and frustrated of all his teammates when it looked like the Nuggets would lose to the Lakers for the first time in 494 days.
“When I was struggling, I told my teammates, ‘I’m going to look for all of you,’ and every single one of them told me to keep shooting,” said Murray, who did just that, shooting 6 of 8 for 14 points. in the fourth quarter to finish with 20 points.
“They told me to be aggressive and keep looking, keep hunting and when I had the ball with 2 seconds left, I knew that after I made a par, the next one had to fall as well.”
Nuggets coach Michael Malone opted not to call a timeout after Michael Porter Jr. grabbed the rebound of LeBron James’ missed 3-pointer with 13 seconds remaining and the game ended at 99.
“We got the stop. Draw game. Why let them prepare? Malone argued. “Because when they manage to prepare and change everything, you might not even put the ball in the field. So I wanted to make sure we could flow and let our best players make plays.”
Murray faked he was going to hit a 3-pointer, got the AD to close and then beat him until he got to his spot along the right baseline for a clear view.
“That’s Jamal Murray right there,” Malone said. “He can fight, he can fight, he can fight. He sees someone walk in and never shies away from the moment, the spotlight.
Nikola Jokic said Murray “made the hard shots today and missed the easy ones. It was that kind of game.”
Asked to continue with the final sequence, Davis hesitated, saying simply, “Jamal Murray made a shot,” then stood up, dropped the microphone — not figuratively — and left the postgame podium.
Jokic had a triple-double with 27 points, 20 rebounds and 10 assists. Porter added 22 points and Aaron Gordon 14 for Denver.
Davis led the Lakers with 32 points, James had 26 points plus a huge fight with the referees and D’Angelo Russell added 23 with a career-high seven 3s in the playoffs, including six in the first half to help the Lakers build a 59-44 lead at halftime.
The Lakers extended their lead to 68-48 two minutes into the second half and still led by 10 heading into the fourth quarter.
“I don’t have a 20-point play,” Malone said. “You have to keep chipping away.”
They did, finally tying it at 95, all on Porter’s 3-pointer with 1:15 left in the frantic final minute.
“A 20-point lead in this league is not safe, especially against the defending champion,” James said. “We have to do better. But we had our chances.”
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