Jamal Murray Destroys Kyrie Irving’s Return, Nuggets Destroy Mavericks, 118-99

The Dallas Mavericks played their second straight game against the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday night, which is also their first game of a back-to-back. Dallas got a big boost to the lineup when Kyrie Irving returned from five games to play Tuesday.

The Mavs were still without Luka Doncic, so they started Irving, Klay Thompson, Naji Marshall, PJ Washington and Dereck Lively II, while Denver went with Russell Westbrook, Jamal Murray, Christian Braun, Michael Porter Jr. and Nikola Jokic.

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It was the exact opposite start to Sunday’s game, as the Mavs couldn’t get anything going early outside of some point-blank attempts from Lively, while Jamal Murray hit a three-pointer from behind as the Nuggets jumped out to an early 16-6 lead. Jokic hadn’t scored to this point, but already had four rebounds and four assists.

The hot start for Murray only continued as he helped extend Denver’s lead to 27-12. Peyton Watson hit a three and Jokic hit his first shot of the game as the Nuggets took a 32-17 lead, the exact lead Dallas had Sunday at the end of the first quarter. Murray’s scoop lefty layup at the end of this first quarter gave Denver a 36-21 lead when he already had 19 points.

Denver extended that lead to 20 in the early minutes of the second quarter and got vintage highlight plays from DeAndre Jordan, who gave Daniel Gafford fits when Dereck Lively II had left with an ankle injury at this point. Dallas couldn’t find a way to capitalize on minutes without Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic.

The Mavs went to Maxi Kleber at five and PJ Washington as the lead defender on Jamal Murray, but that made things worse. With a few minutes left in the half, the Nuggets were up by 25 as Jamal Murray was up for 28 points. His 32nd point of the game helped Denver take a 71-46 halftime lead.

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Jokic and Westbrook began to find some success to start the second half, but Maxi Kleber also had seven early points in the half to give the Mavericks some life on offense. But they could never make the game interesting again as they had dug themselves too deep into a hole. By the end of the third quarter, Dallas had only chipped one point away from the lead, trailing 91–67.

A strong start to the quarter by Naji Marshall chipped the lead below 20 for the first time in the second half, and Denver called a timeout after Olivier-Maxence Prosper hit a three to cut it to 16. They could get it down to 14 sooner. a 7-0 run by the Nuggets immediately pushed the lead back to 21 points. From there, the Nuggets would cruise to a 118-99 victory.

Dallas’ leading scorer was Daniel Gafford, who had 13 points. It was that kind of game for the Mavericks. Naji Marshall (11 points), Kyrie Irving (11), Olivier-Maxence Prosper (10), Maxi Kleber (10) and Quentin Grimes (10) were also in double figures.

Jamal Murray led the Nuggets with a season-high 45 points, the fourth most points in a game of his career. He shot 18/26 from the floor while adding six assists. Nikola Jokic finished with the smallest triple-double he’ll likely ever have: 10 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists. Michael Porter Jr. was the only other Nugget in double figures with 13 points.

Dallas has the second night of a back-to-back Wednesday in New Orleans against the Pelicans.

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