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Jamal Murray: Champion. Cold-blooded. Game 2 hero.
After struggling with his shot throughout Monday's Game 2 of the Denver Nuggets' first-round playoff series against the Los Angeles Lakers, the guard put his team on his back and scored six points in the final minute. The last two came on a fadeaway jumper as the buzzer sounded, giving Denver the 101-99 victory.
The reigning champions are now up 2-0 on the series and maintained their dominance over the Lakers by overcoming a 20-point deficit for the win.
It was an incredible ending with LeBron James stealing the ball and elevating for a dunk to put the Lakers ahead by three in the final two minutes. From there, Michael Porter Jr. tied it with a triple, D'Angelo Russell gave Los Angeles the lead with a layup, Murray hit two free throws to tie it, and then he and James exchanged baskets.
James had a wide-open three-pointer on the Lakers' final possession but missed it. That set the stage for Murray's game-winner, which drew plenty of reaction from social media:
Murray finished with 20 points and five assists on 9-of-24 shooting from the field, while Nikola Jokić dazzled with 27 points, 20 rebounds, 10 assists and two steals. Porter also impressed with 22 points and nine boards behind 6-of-10 shooting from deep.
As for the Lakers, Monday's loss surely feels like an obstacle they may not be able to overcome.
While Denver swept Los Angeles in the 2023 Western Conference Finals and won all three regular-season matchups in 2023-24, it seemed like the Lakers were finally going to put that all behind them on Monday.
After all, they jumped out to a 15-point halftime lead while Anthony Davis (32 points and 11 rebounds) played at an unstoppable level. Russell also caught fire from deep on his way to 23 points and seven three-pointers, while James was in full control as the primary facilitator and de-facto point guard.
The King (26 points, 12 assists and eight rebounds) dictated tempo in pick-and-rolls with Davis and then sensed when he needed to assert himself as a scorer with back-to-back three-pointers and an and-1 down the stretch after the Nuggets climbed all the way back from their 20-point deficit.
On another night, James' steal and monster dunk over Murray may have been the exclamation mark from another vintage performance by the all-time great.
Instead, Murray had other ideas.
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