Jamal Murray shines as top-seeded Nuggets bury Suns from distance
Jamal Murray #JamalMurray
DENVER — Jamal Murray scored 34 points, hitting six of Denver’s 16 3-pointers, and the Nuggets sprinted past the Phoenix Suns, 125-107, on Saturday night in Game 1 of their second-round series.
Reigning back-to-back NBA MVP Nikola Jokic had 24 points and 19 rebounds, while Aaron Gordon finished with 23 points for the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. But this was the Murray Show, where he went 6 of 10 from 3-point land and frequently exhorted for more noise from the already raucous crowd.
Kevin Durant scored 29 points for the Suns, with Devin Booker adding 27 and Chris Paul 11. Booker averaged 37.2 points in a first-round series win over the Los Angeles Clippers.
Game 2 is Monday night in Denver.
This is a different sort of playoff series than two years ago, when the Suns swept the Nuggets in the second round. Back then, Denver was without Murray after he tore his ACL. Now healthy, Murray is flashing his 2020 form inside the NBA bubble that helped Denver advance to the Western Conference finals.
Murray had the play of the night when he stole a pass, split defenders Paul and Durant at top speed, and knocked in a layup high off the glass. It brought the capacity crowd to its feet.
The dynamic point guard was far from done energizing the fans, hitting a 3-pointer with just under 7 minutes remaining. He implored them for more noise, even holding a hand to his ear.
Leading, 106-95, with 7:40 remaining, the Nuggets went on a 14-0 run to put away the game. Denver led by as many as 25 and improved to 38-7 at home through the regular season and playoffs.
The difference was the 3-point line, where the Nuggets outscored the Suns, 48-21.
To stop Durant, the Nuggets used a multitude of defenders. He went 12 of 19 from the floor, but 1 of 3 on 3-pointers. Durant has 4,730 playoff points to move closer to passing Karl Malone (4,761) seventh place on the NBA’s postseason points leaderboard.