DENVER – Keep shooting. That was the message to Jamal Murray before he fired the game-winner at the buzzer as the Denver Nuggets erased a 20-point deficit to beat the Los Angeles Lakers 101-99 on April 22.
The victory meant that the National Basketball Association (NBA) champions now have a 2-0 lead in their Western Conference first-round play-off series.
The drama in Denver followed a scintillating comeback by the New York Knicks, who scored eight points in the final half-minute to stun the Philadelphia 76ers 104-101 for a 2-0 lead in their Eastern Conference clash.
Nikola Jokic delivered a triple-double of 27 points, 20 rebounds and 10 assists for the Nuggets and Murray broke out of his shooting doldrums, with 14 of his 20 points coming in the fourth quarter.
The Lakers, led by 32 points and 11 rebounds from Anthony Davis, were in control for most of the night, pushing a 59-44 half-time lead to 20 points early in the third quarter.
LeBron James scored 26 points and handed out 12 assists, but the Nuggets kept chipping away and tied it at 95-95 on Michael Porter Jr’s basket with 1min 15sec remaining.
James put the Lakers up 99-97 with a driving layup, but Murray tied it again with a step-back jumper with 30 seconds to go.
After James missed a three-point attempt, Murray rose over Davis and connected on a fade-away jumper for the winner with four-tenths of a second left.
“I told my teammates when I was struggling, I’m gonna look for y’all,” Murray told broadcaster TNT. “And every single one of them told me to keep shooting, keep shooting.
“They just told me to stay aggressive and keep looking for it, keep hunting it.
“I had the ball with a few seconds left and I knew once I made a couple, the next one should go down as well.
“I just beat him (Davis) to my spot and elevated, went through my shot. I’m thankful enough that that was one of the few that went down for me.”
It was a similar story in New York, where the Knicks took the lead over the Sixers for the first time in the third quarter.
Philadelphia appeared to have regained control, but Jalen Brunson’s three-pointer with 27.4sec left pulled the Knicks within two points.
After Josh Hart came up with a steal, Donte DiVincenzo capped a chaotic possession with a three-pointer to put New York up 102-101.
O.G. Anunoby sealed it at an ecstatic Madison Square Garden with a pair of free throws.
It was a crushing defeat for Philadelphia, who were up by five with less than a minute to play.
Sixers star Joel Embiid was dejected but defiant, saying: “We’re going to win this series. We’re the better team and we’re going to keep fighting.”
Brunson finished with 24 points for New York despite connecting on just eight of 29 shots from the field. He added eight rebounds and six assists and Hart had 21 points and 15 rebounds.
In Cleveland, the Cavaliers cruised to a 96-86 victory over the Orlando Magic, their second straight wire-to-wire victory giving them a 2-0 series lead. AFP
