Jamal Murray roars to life late as Nuggets avert disaster, even series

It got so ugly, the boo birds came out. In a must-win Game 2, the Nuggets fell behind by as many as 19 points. They looked cooked. Jamal Murray, playing about as poorly as possible through three quarters, looked shaken.

But in the fourth quarter, Murray came alive, and the Nuggets pulled off an improbable come-from-behind win to even the series and possibly save their season. Murray missed his first eight shots of the game before catching fire. He scored 21 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter. The Nuggets won 114-105.

Thanks to clutch shot making from him and Malik Beasley as well as big games from Gary Harris (23 points) and Paul Millsap (20 points), the Nuggets will go into San Antonio, where they’ve lost 13 games in a row, tied one game to one against the Spurs.

Murray hit back to back 3s that put Denver ahead by nine with 2:11 to go. Murray hit another midrange jumper shortly thereafter. He saved Denver’s bacon after being a detriment for much of the game.