Murray makes niche NBA history but two Nuggets hurt in win

Nobody has made as many shots from the backcourt in a season as Jamal Murray has this year, he was on fire in a Nuggets win against the Jazz

BY JAKE SHAPIRO

Apr 1, 2026, 10:03 PM Updated: 10:04 pm

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Nobody in the tracked history of the NBA has made as many shots from the backcourt in a season as Jamal Murray has this year, and on Wednesday night in Salt Lake City he added his third to the ledger in closing out his 15-point first quarter as he sparked the Nuggets all night.

He smacked 10 3-pointers for 37 points in Denver’s 130-117 wire-to-wire victory over the Utah Jazz. It was the Nuggets’ seventh consecutive win, their 25th road victory — tying the most in franchise history — and their 10th straight over Utah.

Reminder this happened 🚨 https://t.co/px5JGsJOAg pic.twitter.com/6DJljiPl4K

— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) April 2, 2026

Despite never trailing, the Nuggets struggled against the tanking Jazz, watching their big early lead tumbledown to four in the second half. But this game won’t matter, not at all if what happened during it has a lasting impact.

Two of Denver’s best rotation players this season — both big-time wings — exited with injuries and did not return. Peyton Watson and Tim Hardaway Jr. both went down Wednesday night. Watson left with a hamstring issue that just cost him six weeks and Bailey ran into Hardaway Jr.’s knee, he stayed in for a few minutes before exiting.

“I don’t know anything yet, it’s every night it seems like as far as I know for now it was just discomfort,” David Adelman said. “For Tim, same thing didn’t feel right after the impact. Just what the season has been.”

It’s an unwelcome development that follows Denver losing three power forwards in a single game just days ago. Zeke Nnaji and Spencer Jones remain unavailable. Cameron Johnson returned after missing the second half of that game, going for 19 points, eight rebounds and six assists over 35 minutes.

Of course, Johnson himself was among the Nuggets who have been hurt for a month or more this year, as has everyone else in the rotation besides Murray.

“It wasn’t perfect by any means,” Adelman said. “The turnovers is what killed us tonight, as far as keeping them in the game. But we had really good performances from other people, not the usual. I thought Christian was great. Jonas was great. Bruce’s energy defensively, and then Jamal’s — I mean, the three-point shooting was insane… with all the injuries we’ve had, but somehow we’ve won these games on the road.”

The Blue Arrow in this game, like he has been all season, was the steadying force. He drilled three straight three-pointers in the opening two minutes to stake Denver to a 9-0 lead before Utah could settle in. The Nuggets closed the first quarter outscoring the Jazz 39-28, with Murray alone accounting for 15 of those points. The lead swelled to 18 and held above seven for most of the first half.

Then things got uncomfortable. Nikola Jokic came out of halftime looking visibly out of rhythm — he turned the ball over four times in the third quarter alone, totaling five on the night — and Utah pounced. The Jazz outscored Denver 36-29 in the third, with Bailey posting 11 in the period and Oscar Tshiebwe repeatedly bullying the Nuggets. A 14-point halftime lead was shaved all the way down to four.

Enter Jonas Valanciunas.

“He completely changed the game for us,” Adelman said. “The game felt like a pickup game — we were scoring a lot, they were scoring as well. He set the tone.”

The veteran big man — who spent a stretch of late March collecting DNPs as Denver played with playoff rotation ideas — stepped out in the fourth quarter and immediately sparked a 17-4 Nuggets run that functionally ended the game. Valanciunas finished with 13 points and seven rebounds in just over 13 minutes, converting 7-of-8 from the free throw line. His getting to the free throw line made sure the Nuggets didn’t need a second last-second comeback against the Jazz in as many weeks.

Despite the turbulent third, Jokic still produced a triple-double: 15 points, 17 rebounds and 12 assists. With it, Jokic officially averages a triple-double for the second consecutive season — just the second player in NBA history to accomplish that feat in back-to-back years. Russell Westbrook did it in three straight seasons.

Murray wasn’t just the starter but the closer, too. He went 3-of-4 from three in the fourth quarter, scoring 11 points in the final frame as Denver pushed the lead back out to 18. Christian Braun added 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting. Bruce Brown chipped in 11 points and four steals off the bench.

“Just playing aggressive, playing my game, and the ball is finding me,” Murray said. “I’m just playing free — that was the biggest thing this whole year. Just been playing free, and my teammates trust me, and I’ve been able to back them up.”

Murray capped the night with an unplanned highlight: he banked a pass off the backboard and directly into Christian Braun’s hands for a sick alley-oop.

“I didn’t mean to bank it,” Murray admitted with a grin. “I kind of tripped. It was amazing. That catch is gonna be a SportsCenter top play for sure. Hopefully I got the assist for that.”

He got the assist, and he got the win, too.

Murray passes it off the glass to Braun!

What a play 😲 pic.twitter.com/T6y3e3x3G0

— NBA (@NBA) April 2, 2026

Murray’s shooting

Murray now owns seven of the top-15 three-point shooting performances in Nuggets franchise history — and five of those seven have come this season alone. His 10-for-16 night Wednesday ranks among the best in the franchise’s history. It’s his second time this season falling just one make shy of the single-game franchise record of 11.

Seeking the No. 3 seed

The win moves Denver to 49-28, sitting 1.5 games behind the Los Angeles Lakers in the race for the Western Conference’s No. 3 seed, with five games remaining in the regular season.

The math is steep for the three. The Lakers would need to lose three of their final six games, and the Nuggets would need to win all five of theirs. Los Angeles also holds the tiebreaker.

What’s next for the Nuggets?

Denver returns home Saturday for a showdown with the San Antonio Spurs — the No. 2 seed in the West at 57-18 and winners of nine straight. It is one of the best games left on the regular-season schedule.