Murray’s Last-Second Shot Eliminates the Lakers from Playoff Contention
Just a few days ago, Jamal Murray hit a buzzer-beater win in Denver during Game Two in this first-round series against the Los Angeles Lakers. Yesterday, Murray’s jumper with four seconds left gave the Nuggets a 108-106 win over the Lakers, which gave Denver the 4-1 series win over Los Angeles. This means the Nuggets will be facing the Minnesota Timberwolves during the Western Conference Semifinals. Denver’s next series against Minnesota should also be an epic matchup that has a chance to go the distance. For the Lakers, even though they gave the Nuggets all they had, especially 39-year-old LeBron James, it was not enough to stop the defending champion Denver Nuggets.
These two teams fought early on with the Nuggets taking a four-point advantage after the first quarter. However, the Lakers made sure to stay in this game, as they had been during the first half of this series. Los Angeles outscored Denver 27-22 and walked away with a 53-50 lead at halftime. Denver outscored Los Angeles 31-26 in the third quarter and would take a two-point lead heading into the final quarter of play. With less than three and a half minutes remaining both teams were tied at 99. Nikola Jokić gave the Nuggets a two-point lead until Austin Reaves hit a three, which gave the Lakers a one-point advantage. Jokić layed it in for Denver, while LeBron drove in a layup. Jamal Murray pushed the Nuggets to a two-point lead after hitting a three. LeBron got fouled by Michael Porter Jr. and then hit two free throws to tie the game at 106. With four seconds left, Jamal Murray hit a 14-foot jump shot to give the Nuggets the lead. Los Angeles had no timeouts and quickly had to get the ball up the floor. Taurean Prince missed a half-court shot, allowing the Nuggets to win this series 4-1 with a 108-106 Game Five win in Denver.
Jamal Murray led all scorers with 32 points, in addition to recording three rebounds, seven assists, and a steal. Porter Jr. dropped 26 points, while Jokić picked up 20 points and pulled down 20 rebounds during the win. LeBron finished with 30 points, nine rebounds, 11 assists, and four steals. Anthony Davis had a double-double of 17 points and 15 rebounds in this elimination game loss.
