The NBA couldn’t have asked for a better game to open the 2020 playoffs. The Denver Nuggets and Utah Jazz go into overtime to determine a winner in this first-round matchup. Donovan Mitchell and Jamal Murray traded shots back and forth on the track, but ultimately Murray’s overtime game brought the Nuggets to a 135-125 win and a 1-0 lead in the series.
Mitchell finished the game with 57 points, becoming the youngest player since Michael Jordan to score more than 50 points in a playoff game. It seemed that jazz was in control for most of the second half and it looked like they could take that win. However, an All-Star attempt by Murray forced overtime, and his game – as well as a breakdown for Utah in OT – became the deciding factor. Murray scored 10 of his 36 points in OT to secure the win for Denver, finishing the game just short of double-doubles with nine assists.
Murray and Nikola Jokic’s 2-1 strike turned out to be too much for Utah as the cute 7-foot shooter showed off his offensive versatility in the first half, finishing the competition with 29 points and 10 boards. A wide open 3-pointer from Jokic with a two-minute lead in extra time increased Denver’s lead to nine, icing the game for the Nuggets. Here are three takeaways from Denver’s thrilling victory over jazz.
1. Jamal Murray’s late game explosion
When Murray got into the playoffs, he only played four of the eight seeding games in Denver due to tight thighs. Despite solid performances towards the end of the seeding schedule, it was unclear whether Murray’s conditioning would meet playoff standards. Murray himself even said that he was “gassed” after his first second leg, so there was no telling whether he would be ready to start 100 percent of the game right away.
Well, those concerns quickly resolved in the second quarter of the game, when Murray ran a 12-0 run himself and repeatedly yelled at his teammates, “You don’t want it!” after Utah called for a break. The fourth-year security guard then increased his game even further, adding 20 points and overtime in the fourth quarter. Head coach Mike Malone said after the game that Murray “compared fire to fire” with Mitchell, who drained shot after shot to keep the jazz in play.
With Gary Harris and Will Barton still pausing for Denver, Murray had to take his game to another level on offense, and he replied ten times. It wasn’t just that Murray scored points left and right; The difficulty of his buckets increased every time the ball left his hands. He went 6 out of 9 from a distance, regularly putting Joe Ingles out on defense, his speed approaching the basket. Murray was very successful for Denver, now he has to continue that level for the duration of this series.
2. Utah’s overtime collapse
The jazz really looked like they were going to get away with winning this game. Thanks to Mitchell’s absurd offensive performance, they had risen by four in just under two minutes. However, they just couldn’t answer Murray’s fourth quarter hit. Even so, Mitchell made his best Dwyane Wade impression in the second half, purely from his fourth quarter play felt like Utah pulling this out.
Instead, Denver contracted defensively, forcing four turnovers to open OT, two from Mitchell and the other two from Ingles and Gobert. Suddenly, the 51 points Mitchell scored in those four quarters seemed irrelevant, and it became very clear that the jazz was sorely missing Bojan Bogdanovic and Mike Conley in that game. Aside from Mitchell’s six points in extra time, Jordan Clarkson was the second highest scorer in OT with four points. Gobert did not attempt a single shot, although Jokic showed no indication that he could even offer defensive resistance against the great French man. Utah is going to get Conley back in the playoffs at some point – maybe even this series – but in any scenario like this, where the defense is chasing Mitchell and Clarkson is the second best scoring option on the ground, it becomes clear that Bogdanovic is in attendance is sorely missed.
It will take a more balanced effort from Utah, from players like Royce O’Neale, Georges Niang and others, for jazz to have a chance in this game. Utah can’t go all out for Mitchell to score more than 50 points a night just to make the team lose.
3. The NBA couldn’t have asked for a better opener
While it may not be gold like a game run by LeBron James, nuggets and jazz are delivered from an entertainment perspective. Mitchell and Murray traded punches in the fourth quarter and overtime had a real Game 7 of the NBA Finals, not the first game of the entire playoffs, and that’s a good thing. There will certainly be some dud games in the first round, especially when the bucks and raptors battle the magic and nets, but you couldn’t round off the postseason better. The quality of play in the NBA bubble was already superb, and that was only the end of the regular season. If this nuggets jazz game is any indication of what to expect when it gets to the playoffs later, then the league can rest assured that at least the product that gets hit the floor is as good as this one Boys play in crowded arenas.
