Recap: Jamal Murray’s 45 points pace Denver Nuggets in 118-99 win over Dallas Mavericks

On By Littum

In his best game of the season, Jamal Murray put up 45 points and 6 assists to lead the Denver Nuggets to a 118-99 victory over the Dallas Mavericks. It was truly the Jamal Murray show as no one else on either team scored more than 13 points. Nikola Jokic had a triple double with 10 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists on a night where he crossed the 5,000 assist mark and set some records of his own, but nothing could take the spotlight from Murray, who was in flow mode throughout the first. half with 32 points in just the first two quarters to lead Denver to its fourth straight victory. Daniel Gafford led Dallas with 13 points and Kyrie Irving had 11 points but only 2 assists as the Mavericks lost both games at home to the Nuggets and are now done with that matchup in the regular season.

Game Flow

Klay Thompson missed a three for Dallas to open the game, but Derrick Lively pounded home a drive. MPJ missed a three for Denver, but buried his second deep attempt. Russell Westbrook stole the ball, but Jamal Murray couldn’t convert the transition 3. Russ had his drive blocked by Lively, Kyrie Irving missed a layup and Jokic fed the ball to Christian Braun for the transition finish. Lively dunked another one but then landed on Jokic’s foot and didn’t return, Braun missed a corner 3 and Jokic threw the ball out to Jamal for a 3 off a double team. Daniel Gafford made a paint bucket over Jokic, Porter missed a long step back and Jamal hit a three off the dribble. MPJ’s pull-up made it 16-6 Denver early as Dallas couldn’t connect and started 3-for-14 from the field. Mal then assisted Westbrook on a 3 and then Russ was called for a screening foul on what would have been another MPJ ​​bucket. Murray’s drive and dish to MPJ for a dunk was beautiful, and Murray then answered Irving’s bank shot with a nice 13-footer. Irving made another as he started to warm up thanks to Peyton Watson being called on a close goalie, Jamal missed a heat-check three but had free throws the next time and then made another jumper. Spencer Dinwiddie converted a traditional three point play, answered by Watson’s corner three. Jokic took and made his first shot from near the free throw line with 2 minutes left in the quarter. Watson missed his next three, Gafford finished an oop from Jaden Hardy and DeAndre Jordan turned the ball over. Julian Strawther had to foul Gafford to stop another Dallas dunk, and a final Dallas half-court shot missed the buzzer, but behind Jamal Murray’s 19 points and 3 assists, the Nuggets led 36-21 after one.

DeAndre Jordan got to the line for Denver and made one, Strawther missed a 3 and Klay Thompson traveled and tried to break down Denver’s stiff defense. Aaron Gordon missed a hard drive but stayed with it for a couple of tip attempts to the bucket. AG was fouled on his next down to get to the line and his free throw put Denver up 41-21. Gordon got back to the line on a Thompson foul, and after Jordan suffocated the Mavs anywhere near the rim, Klay finally got his first bucket by burying a 3. The Mavs went to a zone and Westbrook found Jordan for a dunk and then missed the next one. can. For the third time, Russ and DJ connected for another dunk to push the lead back to 20, then Jordan cleaned up a Westbrook miss after some Irving free throws. Quentin Grimes made a Dallas 3, Jordan was fouled on another close attempt, and Denver clung to control at 50-32. Murray reentered and immediately took a step back to answer a Kyrie pullup. Jamal turned it over, Watson blocked the Dallas transition attempt, and Jamal’s 2 was answered by a Kleber 3. A nice Watson oop finish was fouled, but Watson made his free throws and Murray made another bucket while staying on fire. entire first half. Jokic buried a three, MPJ grabbed a defensive rebound but missed a pullup, and Jokic kept changing shots and boards. Jokic found Murray on a tipped pass for a 3 and Denver was up 64-39. Murray had a career-high 32 points in the first half, and Dallas had just 6 points in the final 4 minutes of the quarter. MPJ answered a Dinwiddie 3 with one of its own, and even a Klay 3 in the final seconds couldn’t affect Denver’s 71-45 halftime lead.

Jokic opened the scoring in the third quarter with a floating jumper, Klay answered for Dallas, but Jamal’s 12-foot pullup kept Denver playing on all cylinders. Jokic got to the line for a free throw, Westbrook hit a deep jumper off a Jokic assist, then Christian Braun’s block led to a Westbrook layup attempt that was fouled by Kleber. Westbrook hit his free throws, Kleber made a putback and Russ had a beautiful cut to the basket to finish off a Jokic assist. Kleber made a three in an attempt to help Dallas make a run, and Murray had a rare miss, while MPJ’s pass attempt to Jokic in the paint resulted in a turnover. PJ Washington had a transition drive for the bucket to make it 82-56 Denver and force a Nuggets timeout. Murray backed Dinwiddie dribble for dribble into the paint and then floated up for an easy finish, matched by Kyrie’s rim finish. Westbrook missed a three, Braun hit his own transition miss and Russ missed a finish on a nice one-handed curl pass from Jokic. Murray found MPJ for a 3, but Jokic missed a paint bucket and Strawther missed a three on the Jokic kickoff. Watson blew a transition bucket, AG influenced a Gafford shot and Jokic finally got his triple-double by making a transition bucket. Gafford ended a drive for Dallas, Murray missed his for Denver, and although Denver’s offense went cold from the field, the Nuggets only lost the quarter by 2 thanks to consistent defense and went into the fourth with a 91-67 lead.

AG missed a three for Denver and Naji Marshall finished a traditional three-point play for Dallas to open the final frame. Murray made a nice floater, but Marshall had another pair of buckets for the Mavericks as their energy level rose. Murray had a pair of turnovers and Dallas hit another three to close within 16 and force a Denver timeout. Dallas went on a 10-0 run before Strawther made a three off a Murray assist. Peyton Watson had his shot blocked by Olivier-Maxence Prosper, but Murray made a tough stepback for his 40th point and AG finished a turnaround jumper to take the lead back to 21 at 100-79. Murray hit a transition three off an MPJ steal and assist, and then Peyton Watson had a thunderous dunk. Grimes made a three for Dallas, but Jamal answered with a layup. Murray missed a pair of threes and MPJ missed a one-handed putback dunk, but the Nuggets had it locked up and the only starter still on the court in the final minutes was Christian Braun as Denver cruised to a 118-99 victory.

Final thoughts

– Jamal Murray. Nothing else, because what is there to say? Murray’s season high to that point was 34 points, and he had 32 at the half. Just an incredible offensive explosion, but it wasn’t just the buckets. Jamal was busy on defense, still making passes and setting screens. It was an incredible show, but within the principles of what Denver is trying to do. Murray did everything early with just 3 misses on 15 shots in the first half. His play was decisive and energetic, without a lot of wasted movement or over-dribbling. He took advantage of every hole he saw and shot over, around and through any defense the Mavs put out there.

There’s been a lot of buzz around Jamal this year, but as he’s gotten healthier, his game has improved, and Russell Westbrook finding his groove with Jokic is freeing up Jamal to do whatever he wants. He was hot early and Denver made sure to get the ball in their hands. Jokic took two shots in the first half, but cleaned the boards and locked down assists as he paved the way for Jamal’s hottest start to a game of his career. It was a beautiful example of who Jamal can still be for this team, and doing it against the Mavs — whose defense had given him trouble in previous games this year — was another good example of the kind of growth Denver needs from his non-joking players as they all get healthy and seem to gel.

– Amazing what consistent effort and available players will do for Denver. Coach Michael Malone might have liked the third quarter better than the first two because Denver’s defensive effort remained solid despite their offense being cold from the start of the game. Denver kept playing defense, kept making rotations, kept putting in the extra effort. Denver held Dallas (barely) under a hundred points despite the massive lead they built, and those are the kind of championship habits that are good to see them build in January. Denver outrebounded Dallas on the boards 51-30 — almost certainly helped some by the early injury to Derrick Lively — and harassed the Mavs at the three-point line all night while shutting down so many driving lanes. The Nuggets had 20 turnovers, but never let it interrupt their flow or get in the way of playing hard on the other end. The Mavericks are hurting, but those are the wins Denver needs to unlock to find a groove and pick up some wins. This is how a contender starts to put streaks together – here’s hoping for another win in the series tomorrow night.