With a game-winning buzzer-beater, Jamal Murray propelled the Denver Nuggets to a 101-99 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday night. Murray drained a two-point fadeaway shot over Anthony Davis with the game tied as the clock expired, giving the Nuggets a 2-0 lead in the series.
Davis scored a game-high 32 points and added 11 rebounds, while Denver’s Nikola Jokić put up 27 points, 20 rebounds and 10 assists in a battle of stars that featured an impressive fourth quarter from LeBron James, who totaled 26 points and 12 assists.
Denver mounted a 20-point comeback in the second half, with Murray scoring 14 points in the fourth quarter. He finished with 20 points, but his clutch basket made the biggest difference.
WHAT A BUCKET. THIS IS JAMAL MURRAY EVERYONE. 🏹 pic.twitter.com/xfihf0lXAe
— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) April 23, 2024
“If it wasn’t for my teammates, I might not even get to that shot,” Murray said postgame on TNT. “I did what I could today, I tried to pick it up on defense. … It was a great team win. We all stuck together.”
“If it wasn’t for my teammates, I might not even get to that shot.”
Jamal Murray joins TNT after calling game vs. the Lakers pic.twitter.com/g1lfEVxk26
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) April 23, 2024
Los Angeles, which has dropped 10 consecutive games against Denver, hosts Game 3 on Thursday.
Heartbroken
Just when it looked like Davis had finally figured out Jokić, like the Lakers’ offense was going to break through and snap Denver’s nine-game winning streak over Los Angeles, the Nuggets snatched the Lakers’ hearts out and stomped on them.
This is, by far, the worst of the 10 losses. The Lakers led by 20 points with 10 minutes remaining in the third quarter. They were outscored 53-31 the rest of the way. The offense stalled. Davis stopped making shots and couldn’t stop Jokić. James’ crunch-time efforts were too little too late. And the Jokić-Murray two-man game, the giant thorn sticking out of the Lakers in the clutch, sunk them once again. Los Angeles is down only two games, but it feels more like three. The Lakers are battling their mental demons against the Nuggets as much as anything. That buzzer-beater was most likely the death blow to this series. — Jovan Buha, Lakers senior writer
Required reading
- Lakers-Nuggets playoff preview and predictions: Can L.A. overcome Denver’s clutch domination?
- Lakers’ promising start turns into same depressing story vs. Nuggets. `S—, it’s tough’
(Photo: Ron Chenoy / USA Today)
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