Jamal Murray’s career-high 48 points lifts Nuggets past Celtics

Jamal Murry tied his career-high 38 points midway through the fourth quarter on a deep three, walked to midcourt as Brad Stevens signaled for a timeout and fired a slow-motion blue arrow straight towards the Celtics’ basket.

It was the highlight of a memorable offensive performance from Murray, who scored a career-high 48 points as the Nuggets moved to 9-1 on the season, beating the Celtics 115-107.

Denver trailed by 18 in the first half before its bench, behind Juancho Hernangomez, Monte Morris and Trey Lyles, brought the Nuggets back. Denver trailed by two points at the half. In the third, the Nuggets outscored the Celtics 34-25. Murray had 19 in the fourth as Denver put 115 points on Boston, who came into the game with the league’s best defense.

Murray got hot in the first quarter, scoring 10 straight. He had 23 in the first but went cold in the third, scoring just six points on 1-4 shooting but came alive again with the game on the line.

Nikola Jokic had another quiet night offensively, finishing with seven points, 10 rebounds and eight assists. It’s Jokic’s third-straight single-digit scoring effort. Gary Harris added 13 points on just 4-14 shooting. Hernangomez, Lyles and Morris had eight points each.

Kyrie Irving nearly matched Murray’s brilliance, scoring 31 points on 12-17 shooting.

Denver travels to Memphis for a matchup Wednesday night.