David Adelman voiced what every Nuggets fan was thinking.
“It was such a Jamal game in Game 4,” Denver’s interim coach said 90 minutes before the sequel Tuesday.
What he meant was obvious enough to the well-acquainted. Murray’s flair for the dramatic knows no bounds, especially at the exact moment he seems to have faded into anonymity on the floor. In an endlessly tense first-round series between the Nuggets and Clippers, he had turned in his quietest performance in Game 4 — but he made two massive shots down the stretch when nobody else could, scoring five of his 13 points late to help Denver stave off catastrophe.
It’s a stupefying superpower: When Murray is at his worst, he is at his best.
So Adelman predicted a big night for him in Game 5. As he often does in the playoffs, Murray delivered, with 43 points to lead the Nuggets to a 131-115 win and 3-2 series lead over the pesky Clippers at Ball Arena.
They have an opportunity to punch a ticket to Oklahoma City for the second round in Game 6 on Thursday (8 p.m. MT) in L.A.
If Murray scores like he did Tuesday, they should be all right. Even on a night when Nikola Jokic went 4 for 13 from the field — jarringly inefficient by his MVP standards — Denver was able to lead wire-to-wire thanks to Murray’s 17-for-26 night, including eight 3-pointers. It was Murray’s sixth 40-point playoff game with the Nuggets — the most in franchise history.
He was so hot that even the forgotten little moments outside the box score were maximum entertainment. He drained a double-clutch 3 at the halftime buzzer but released it a fraction of a second too late to count. He almost splashed a shot from half-court after a dead ball in the fourth quarter as he was performing damage control on a shrinking lead. Ball Arena reacted to the near-miss as if it mattered.
Jokic still finished with a triple-double of 13 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists. Aaron Gordon followed his historic buzzer-beater with a 23-point night, forcing his way to the foul line persistently. Michael Porter Jr. continued to make a modest but efficient impact while playing with a sprained shoulder. He shot 3 of 5 from the perimeter. Christian Braun submitted a double-double and increasingly successful defense against James Harden.
And Russell Westbrook shined off the bench in his return from a foot injury, scoring 21 points on 15 shots.
Both sides have their pressure points in this series — particularly on offense — so as mutual desperation mounted Tuesday, so did the pressure applied to those weak links.
The Nuggets flat-out ignored Kris Dunn, who already didn’t close Game 4 in Los Angeles after ceasing to make them regret their game plan. He was quickly played off the floor in the first quarter, only to respond with three open 3s in an 11-point second frame. But the Nuggets didn’t relent in their plan. He took seven shots on the night. Harden took only nine, finishing with 11 points and four turnovers.
Meanwhile, Denver’s spacing liability met the moment all night. Westbrook vaporized his former team with jumpers and rim pressure. He relished every second of it. He barked at anyone who would listen, whether lovingly (a raucous Ball Arena crowd) or scornfully (Ty Lue’s bench). He rocked the baby to celebrate an and-one opportunity against Bogdan Bogdanovic, with whom he sparred all night until they picked up matching technical fouls.
And he combined with Murray for a synergy that allowed Adelman to actually feel comfortable resting Jokic in both halves — even with a 16-point lead to start the fourth quarter, the same exact margin Denver possessed in Game 4 when Adelman gambled on keeping Jokic in.
The Clippers nearly made him pay the price in Los Angeles. The Nuggets rewarded his decision in Denver, stretching the lead to 22.
Deja vu briefly threatened as Los Angeles clipped its way to within single digits. But Murray and company had the situation under control this time. After a performance that also included five boards and seven assists, Denver’s mercurial point guard tossed a sweaty towel aimlessly into the crowd on his way off the court. It found a home with a shrieking teenage admirer.
“I think (Murray) has not gotten the attention, maybe that we should all be talking about. When Nikola is not in the game, he’s been doubled, tripled,” Adelman said. “He’s being treated just like Harden, just like Kawhi (Leonard). The adjustments are there for him as well. So I think he’s immensely tough. … He is a guy that plays in the moment. He wants the biggest moment.”
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Originally Published: April 29, 2025 at 11:02 PM MDT
