Jamal Murray Hits Buzzer Beater In Nuggets Comeback Game 2 Win

Jamal Murray hit a walk-off shot from the baseline to cap off a 20-point comeback from the Denver Nuggets against the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday night. Two minutes into the second half, the Lakers held a 68-48 lead, but the Nuggets made a strong recovery to force a tie with 30 seconds left. 

LeBron James missed a jump shot to give Los Angeles the lead, and Murray ran down the court to hit the game-winning buzzer-beater.

Murray went 6/8 for 14 points in the fourth quarter, but before his final shot, it was somewhat of an off-night for the All-Star. By the end of the game, he had shot 9/24 from the floor and finished with 20 points, three rebounds and five assists.

“I told my teammates when I was struggling, ‘I’m going to look for y’all,’ and every single one of them told me to keep shooting,” Murray said postgame. “They told me to stay aggressive and keep looking for it, keep hunting, and when I had the ball with two seconds left, I knew once I had made a couple, the next one should go down, as well.”

Aside from Murray’s game-winner, Nikola Jokic led Denver for most of the night. The presumptive league MVP finished with 27 points, 20 rebounds and ten assists. His stat line ties Wilt Chamberlain for the most 20/20/10 triple-doubles in a playoff game in NBA history. His four times reaching the mark are also the four most recent occurrences, the last time before Jokic came 20 years ago from Kevin Garnett in 2004.

Denver outscored Los Angeles 57-40 in the second half. James finished with 26 points, eight rebounds and 12 assists, while D’Angelo Russell had 23 points, three rebounds and six assists. Anthony Davis ended the game with a team-high 32 points and 11 rebounds after a near-perfect 11/12 start in the first half but went on to shoot only 3/7 the remainder of the night.

Davis was also in foul trouble for much of the second half, some of which came from calls the Lakers saw as questionable. Los Angeles finished Game 2 shooting four fewer free throws than Denver, but it had a 19-6 advantage in that department in Game 1.

Following the Game, James and Davis walked out of their postgame press conferences, with James heavily criticizing the officials and replay center.

“I don’t understand what’s going on in the replay center, to be honest,” James said. “D-Lo clearly gets hit in the face on a drive,” James said. “What the f— do we have a replay center for if it’s going to go [like that]? It doesn’t make sense to me.”

Russell also posted comments about the third-quarter call that was initially ruled a shooting foul in favor of the Lakers but overturned after a Nuggets challenge. The Lakers shot 48.7% as a team on the night, but much of that came from James, Davis and Russell, as the rest of their roster combined for 7/24 shooting. Similarly, Denver only shot 44.3% as a team on 13/35 from their supporting cast but ended the game making seven straight makes.

Denver leads 2-0 as the series moves to Los Angeles. The game will be held on Thursday night.

Article by Eli Gregorski