DENVER — Jamal Murray has broken the hearts of the Los Angeles Lakers in the playoffs so many times, he figured it was time to do the same to the LA Clippers. This time it wasn’t a back-breaking buzzer-beater, but a barrage of brilliant shotmaking that paced the Denver Nuggets to a 131-115 win over Los Angeles in Game 5 of the best-of-seven first-round series Tuesday night at Ball Arena.
Murray scored a game-high 43 points on 17-of-26 shooting, his sixth career playoff game of 40 or more points, as Denver took a 3-2 series lead. Game 6 will be Thursday evening in Los Angeles.
Murray’s eight 3-pointers gave him his third playoff game with eight 3s, fifth most in NBA postseason history behind Klay Thompson (who has six) and Damian Lillard, Ray Allen and Stephen Curry (who all have four).
“These big moments, these situations. He was born for this,” Nuggets coach David Adelman said. “You can kind of tell the way the ball comes off his hand on certain nights. I thought he had a great lift on his jump shot. …When it’s flowing like that, it’s the guy that’s won us so many playoff games in the past.”
Murray came into the playoffs nursing a hamstring injury that caused him to miss six games but has played himself back into peak form right as the Nuggets seem to be finding their championship swagger following the shocking firings of longtime head coach Michael Malone and general manager Calvin Booth with just three games remaining in the regular season.
“This is really what it’s about,” Murray said. “Just coming down, playing hard and everybody trying to be on the same page with whatever we’re trying to accomplish. Tonight I think we did a really good job of just covering for each other throughout the game. Even when they went on runs or whatever, we just stuck together, and we were able to figure it out amongst ourselves.”
Murray said he has enjoyed the back-and-forth nature of this tightly contested series, all the adjustments each team is making from game to game and his individual matchup with Clippers defensive ace Kris Dunn.
“It’s funny, I get some good defenders on me year after year and I get to create good relationships with those guys, you know what I’m saying?” Murray said. “Getting to play against them. Joking around, going back and forth, taunting, whatever it is, it’s all part of the competition, part of the game, so it’s just another challenge. I respect everybody over there. It was just fun to go compete.”
Dunn was taken two spots ahead of Murray (No. 7) in the 2016 draft. Clippers forward Ben Simmons was taken No. 1 overall.
“It’s always fun going against him and always a battle,” Murray said.
Denver took Game 1 of this series but seemed to be reeling just a few days ago after losing Games 2 and 3 and following injuries to starting forward Michael Porter Jr. (shoulder) and super substitute Russell Westbrook (foot).
Somehow during the short break between Games 3 and 4, however, Denver found its swagger. The Nuggets have taken control of the series the past two games with physicality and extraordinary shotmaking.
Tuesday night it was Murray and Westbrook setting the pace, combining to shoot 25-of-41 (61%) from the field and hitting 11-of-20 3-pointers. That was as many as the entire Clippers team hit (11-of-29).
Murray’s big night offset a relatively tepid night for three-time MVP Nikola Jokic, who scored just 13 points on 13 shots but still finished with a triple-double (12 assists and 10 rebounds).
“When he’s complimentary with Nikola, it’s great,” Adelman said of Murray. “But it sure is nice to have these nights where it’s his show. We needed it tonight in a big game.”
While all five of the Clippers starters finished in double figures, led by Ivica Zubac‘s 27 points on 11-of-15 shooting, Los Angeles couldn’t overcome a poor offensive night from James Harden, who took just nine shots in 35 minutes and had a series-low five assists.
Some of that was the defense from Christian Braun. But Harden also just wasn’t very involved. His 35 touches were a series low, as were the 23 points the Clippers scored on possessions he touched the ball, according to ESPN Research.
