Murray Scores 34, Nuggets Beat Suns 125-107 in Game 1
Jamal Murray kept imploring the crowd to get louder and louder with each trip down the floor.
As if the Nuggets point guard even needed to. His play was already rocking the arena.
Murray scored 34 points, hitting six of Denver’s 16 3-pointers, and the Nuggets sprinted past the Phoenix Suns 125-107 on Saturday night in Game 1 of their second-round series.
“He’s a bad man,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said.
Any response to that adulation?
“Thanks?” Murray said. “Appreciate it. … I’m just playing my game. … I’m doing whatever it takes to win.”
And maybe show a nation that doesn’t always get to watch the Nuggets — you know, because they’re usually on so late — what the players have known all season: They’re talented and worthy of their top seed in the Western Conference. They don’t mind if the Suns, as the fourth seed, are the trendy pick to beat them, either.
“We’re going to keep doing what we’re doing, keep proving everybody wrong,” Murray said.
Reigning back-to-back NBA MVP Nikola Jokic had 24 points and 19 rebounds, while Aaron Gordon finished with 23 points. But this was the Murray Show, where he went 6 of 10 from 3-point land and frequently exhorted for more noise from the already raucous crowd.
Let’s be honest, some of the shots he hit tonight I don’t think anybody could have stopped him,” Suns coach Monty Williams said.
Kevin Durant scored 29 points and grabbed 14 boards for the Suns, with Devin Booker adding 27 points and Chris Paul 11. Booker averaged 37.2 points in a first-round series win over the Los Angeles Clippers.
“I thought that they were just more physical, played with more force,” Williams said. “We’ve got to regroup and do a much better job of playing with pace on offense.”
Game 2 is Monday night in Denver.
Source: WOKV
