Jamal Murray scored 37 points on Saturday as the Denver Nuggets routed the Los Angeles Lakers 119-108 to move within one win of reaching the NBA Finals for the first time in the team’s history.
A dazzling first-half shooting performance from Denver point guard Murray laid the foundation for a deserved road win that leaves the Nuggets with a commanding 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference Finals series.
After claiming back-to-back victories at home in Games 1 and 2, Denver delivered a performance of ruthless precision to dispatch LeBron James and the 17-time champion Lakers at the Crypto.com Arena.
Photo: AFP
Murray finished with 37 points, seven rebounds and six assists, while Nikola Jokic added 24 points — including 15 in the fourth quarter — to steer Denver to victory.
“We stayed with it,” Murray told ESPN. “We just had a hit-first mentality that we’ve had through the playoffs. We kept them at a distance for most of the game. I just felt like we executed throughout the game and hit first.”
Anthony Davis led the Lakers’ scoring with 28 points, while James and Austin Reaves added 23 points each.
Lakers coach Darvin Ham said that his team had been unable to handle Murray early on.
“He got off scorching,” Ham said. “He’s one of those players, man, once he starts to see them go in, it’s just he catches fire, and he rolls them off pretty quickly, which he did in that first half.”
Murray “basically carried them offensively through that half,” Ham added, paying tribute to top-seeded Denver’s all-round potency.
“They have been at the top of the food chain for a reason, and have a plethora of guys that can hurt you, as was on full display tonight,” he said, refusing to concede defeat in the series. “Circumstances are what they are. Difficult but not impossible.”
A typically star-studded crowd with the likes of Hollywood actors Jack Nicholson and Denzel Washington sitting at courtside were unable to inspire the Lakers, who must win Game 4 today to avoid a clean sweep.
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