Murray’s big shot caps huge fourth in late Nuggets comeback

Twenty-five games into the Denver Nuggets championship-winning season Jamal Murray was still struggling in returning from a knee surgery. That night, he hit a buzzer-beater that turned his season and pushed the Nuggets into a stretch of 19 wins in 23 games.

Two years later, 24 games in Murray has been struggling coming off a plethora of injuries this summer that have slowed the start of his season. In Monday’s game against the Kings, he caught fire in the fourth quarter igniting a late Nuggets comeback that featured the Blue Arrow hitting bullseye on a game-winner.

Murray led the Nuggets on a 21-10 stretch over the last four minutes of the game which included nine of his own points two of which were on a leaning mid-range shot over All-Star De’Aaron Fox with nine seconds left. The 27-year-old tallied 15 of his 28 points in the final period, culminating with that shot which was supplemented by a team-swarming defense on the other end to close out the win.

“Jamal is out there, he’s fighting. He did a lot of good things tonight, six assists, one turnover, but we need Jamal. We need Jamal Murray to get going. He knows that. We know that. So if he’s not shooting the ball well, if he’s taking the right shots, if he’s defending, if he’s making good decisions, then it’s just stay with it because we know what he’s capable of,” Michael Malone said postgame. “And one of the coaches made an interesting point after tonight’s game. Very similar time of year, the Portland game, coming back from his ACL, and from that point on, Jamal Murray was the Jamal Murray that we’ve all come to love, and maybe tonight’s a game that can get Jamal going to have a 15-point fourth quarter for a really important road win against a team that had us on the ropes, and Jamal helped get us off those ropes and leads us to a win. So hopefully this can be a boost to his confidence and his overall spirit.”

Jamal Murray.

Game-Winner. pic.twitter.com/VDbXLzdnTw

— Matt Brooks (@MattBrooksNBA) December 17, 2024

The Nuggets actually had a 23-point lead in the second quarter of the game but their defense disappeared as did the team’s shooting. Denver only connected on one triple in the middle two quarters all the while the Kings poured in 82 points. It was a similar problem to one they’ve been having all year in keeping up with smaller guards on the perimeter.

With a swallowed whistle Nikola Jokic and fellow star Domantas Sabonis went at each other physically. Joker struggled but still went for a 20-point, 14-rebound, 13-assist triple-double. The three-time MVP hit two giant shots in the pressure cooker to keep the Nuggets going.

 

A ride on the roller coaster

[image or embed]

— Jake Shapiro (@shapalicious.bsky.social) December 16, 2024 at 10:30 PM

“I just think we’re starting to find our rhythm,” Murray told the broadcast after the game. “Over the last couple games, we’ve been better defensively for most of the game, and just trying to have better starts to each quarter”

Denver moved to 14-10 on the season, rising to the fifth seed in the West and within 2.5 games of everyone fighting for the playoffs both above and below them—aside from OKC. The last two seasons the Nuggets have been 14-10 and 15-9 at this point, so maybe Malone and Murray see something the rest of the NBA hasn’t quite yet.