Jamal Murray Drops 34 as Nuggets Beat Damian Lillard, Blazers to Tie Series at 2

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The Denver Nuggets tied their second-round playoff series against the Portland Trail Blazers at two games apiece with a 116-112 victory in Sunday’s Game 4 at Moda Center.

After losing a Game 3 heartbreaker in four overtimes, Denver reclaimed home-court advantage by earning the split it needed in the past two games in Portland.

Nikola Jokic was brilliant with a triple-double of 21 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists, battling through a limp and any lingering fatigue from the last contest. It was far from a solo effort for the visitors, though, as Jamal Murray (34 points, five rebounds, four assists and six clutch free throws in the final 14 seconds) and Paul Millsap (21 points and 10 boards) helped propel Denver to victory.

CJ McCollum (29 points and five rebounds) and Damian Lillard (28 points and seven assists) spearheaded the losing effort for the Trail Blazers, but Murray didn’t give them a chance for any late heroics.

Jamal Murray is the Key to Unlocking Nuggets’ Full Potential

Lillard was the guard who generated the majority of the headlines coming into this series, but Denver has a go-to option of its own who has stood toe-to-toe with the All-Star.

Murray scored 34 points in each of the last two games after scoring 23 with eight assists in a Game 1 win and is playing some of the best basketball of his career. It is another sign of his development into a franchise cornerstone after he posted a career-high 18.2 points and 4.8 assists a night during the regular season.

His emergence as a reliable option after an inconsistent first round has also unlocked Denver’s potential as more than just a single-round victor.

The Nuggets have their pillars in the frontcourt, and they were both impressive for extended stretches in Sunday’s win. Millsap was a primary reason why the visitors had an answer almost every time Portland went on a run, as they knew they could turn to him on the blocks or count on him calmly playing off Jokic and working into openings on the other side of the rim.

He is the veteran leader who helped Denver survive the early Portland spurts and raucous crowd that sensed a 3-1 lead, and overcoming those emotional swings put the team in position to go to Murray and Jokic in crunch time.

Jokic answered with an array of plays in the closing stretch that underscored his status as a premier playmaker in the league. He found Will Barton for two critical three-pointers to extend the lead to two possessions each time, one of which came on a pump fake and drive from the big man on the perimeter.

He also dished to a cutting Gary Harris for an and-1 to extend the lead to six, limped off the court after the play and still returned for the final minute to help clinch the win. As if that weren’t enough, his standing tip-in with one hand after Lillard scored two straight baskets sent a message that Portland’s guard wasn’t going to take the game over in the final minutes without a counterpunch.

Jokic is the All-Star in the middle who operates much of the offense, and Millsap is the quiet general, but Denver needed more to ward off the red-hot Trail Blazers and their pair of game-changing guards.

Enter Murray, who gives the team the third option to win two of the next three games and perhaps even challenge the combination of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson or James Harden and Chris Paul in the next round.

He is gaining confidence in this showdown with the McCollum-Lillard duo and is often a barometer for the Nuggets’ results. He scored 23 or more points in all four wins in the first round against the San Antonio Spurs but had 17, 16 and an ugly six in the three losses.

Denver lost by seven in Game 2 against Portland when he had just 15 but is 2-1 with a four-overtime loss in the other three when he played well.

The Nuggets are a title contender when Murray plays like he has the last two games. They are nothing but narrow first-round victors when he struggles.

What’s Next?

The series returns to Denver for Tuesday’s Game 5.

This article will be updated to provide more information soon.

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