It’s over at Target Center, where Denver evened its best-of-seven series with the Timberwolves 115-107 now that both teams have won both their games on the other team’s court.
Jamal Murray was merely mortal except for his half-ending, three-point heave. MVP Nikola Jokic led the Nuggets with 35 points while the Wolves’ Anthony Edwards fulfilled his promise to carry his teammates forward. He scored 44 points, but it wasn’t enough.
The series now goes back to Denver for Tuesday’s Game 5 and the Nuggets having the chance to be only the sixth NBA team to lose its first two games at home and still win a best-of-seven series.
1. Jamal Murray’s heave ends first half ‘with no regards for human life!’
Turning point: Wolves had chopped a 16-point, first-half deficit to just seven in the final minute of the first half, but then they committed two late turnovers and then watched Murray’s dagger three-pointer from well beyond halfcourt swish at the buzzer.
Suddenly that seven-point deficit was 64-49 at halftime. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope hit a three-pointer with 20.2 seconds left; Anthony Edwards then lost the ball with 4.7 seconds to go, leading to a Michael Porter Jr. dunk with 1.6 seconds to go; and then Nickeil Alexander-Walker’s inbounds pass went right to Jamal Murray, who avoided going out of bounds before heaving a shot from the left sideline that soared high and true.
Murray struck a pose right in front of Hall of Famer Reggie Miller and TNT play-by-play announcer Kevin Harlan, who in turn attempted to stare down Murray himself. After his teammates crashed the court to mob him, Murray ran off the court and down the tunnel to the Nuggets locker room.
Until then, Murray was 2-for-4 for four points.
But he was just warming up. He started the second half by making his first four shots and quickly had 17 points midway through the third quarter.