Jamal Murray And The Nuggets Overcame 57 Points From Donovan Mitchell To Win Game 1 In Overtime

The first game of the 2020 NBA Playoffs saw the West’s 3-seed Denver take on the 6-seed Utah in a battle of shorthanded squads with dreams of a deep playoff run.

Denver took control early in the game, with some hot shooting from Michael Porter Jr., overall dominance from Nikola Jokic on the offensive end, both scoring and facilitating, and after a quiet first quarter, Jamal Murray erupted with a 12-point run all on his own in the second to push the Nuggets in front by seven at the break.

In the third quarter, it was Utah that had the answers, stiffening up on defense as Rudy Gobert reminded everyone why he was a two-time DPOY, and the offense came alive after some stagnant stretches in the first half.

The Jazz came in without two starters in Bojan Bogdanovic, who had surgery that ended his season during the hiatus, and Mike Conley Jr., who is in Ohio following the birth of his son, Elijah, on Sunday night. As such, the chief question facing this Jazz team was how would they create offense beyond Donovan Mitchell — and how much of a load could Mitchell carry on his shoulders. The answer to the latter question proved to be a lot, as Mitchell had 57 points on 19-of-32 shooting and six assists to lead a Utah offense that will turn to him for so much.

Joe Ingles also stepped up in a major way with 19 points and six assists, taking on the role of secondary creator for an offense that is in desperate need of one.

In the final quarter, it was Mitchell and Murray who dueled, with the Jazz guard torturing Nuggets defenders for 21 in the final quarter and Murray (and Jokic) coming alive in the final minutes to drag the Nuggets back into the game despite Mitchell’s best efforts.

After Murray and Mitchell traded buckets to leave the game tied at 113-113, it was Jokic that picked up a key offensive rebound and earned a pair of free throws, hitting both to put Denver ahead by two with just under 30 seconds to play. Mitchell answered that with a foul drawn of his own on a drive with 22.1 seconds to play, fouling out Torrey Craig and tying the game by making his 11th and 12th free throws of the afternoon (he did not miss a free throw in the game) to get to 51 points and set a Jazz record for points in a postseason game.

Jokic had a decent look at a game-winner at the buzzer, but pump-faked a free throw line shot to drive on Gobert who recovered to force a miss on a tough banking hook shot, sending it to overtime knotted at 115-115.

In overtime, the two teams struggled to find an offensive rhythm early, but the Nuggets were able to jump out to a 123-115 lead behind some quality defense forcing turnovers, a big three-pointer from Monte Morris in the corner to give them some cushion, and then a Murray leaning three that was all but the dagger to put them up eight. After a Jordan Clarkson runner gave Utah brief life, Jokic followed that up with a three to go up nine and all but turn the lights out on the Jazz.

Mitchell and Clarkson would try to claw back in it, but another Murray three put the icing on the cake as Denver eventually pulled away to a 135-125 win that must be demoralizing for the Jazz and Mitchell.

It was a spectacular opening game to the NBA Playoffs, and one the Jazz will feel like got away from them given their star’s spectacular 57-point performance. Murray, who had missed much of the seeding round with a hamstring issue, looked sensational with 36 points on 13-of-20 shooting, many of which came in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter and overtime. Jokic had 29 points, 10 rebounds, and three assists as he was his usual stellar self, and Jerami Grant gave them a big lift off the bench with 19 points after Michael Porter Jr. went quiet and was eventually sat in the closing stretch in favor of a better defender.

Utah now must bounce back and ask for another Herculean performance from Mitchell in Game 2, who will need more from his teammates to get the job done against this Denver team. Jordan Clarkson provided a nice boost with 18 points off the bench, but aside from him, the other three that came off the Utah bench only chipped in eight points while Royce O’Neale was almost non-existent on offense with three points in 32 minutes.