Nuggets-Knicks Instant Reactions: Jamal Murray, Denver run out of gas in double-OT thriller

Jamal Murray and the Denver Nuggets just didn’t have quite enough. In a double-OT thriller, the Nuggets fell 134-127 to the New York Knicks.

Nikola Jokic finished with a triple-double and 30 points, 14 rebounds, and 10 assists. Murray led all Nuggets scorers with 39 points.

Here’s what else stood out from the game.

1st quarter flurries

Murray opened this game on fire, scoring 20 points in the 1st quarter. He barely missed. Murray did damage at the rim, from mid-range and beyond the 3-point arc.

It was a full Murray Flurry and got the Nuggets off to a great start in this game.

Spencer Jones, Peyton Watson injured

More injuries…and again to two key contributors. Spencer Jones left the game in the 1st half with a head contusion that initially looked like Karl-Anthony Towns got the worst of. But Jones wasn’t seen after halftime.

Peyton Watson left the game midway through the 4th quarter holding his hamstring. If it’s a typical hamstring strain, expect him to miss the next 3-5 weeks. This is just getting ridiculius.

Crazy finish

Due to his minutes restriction, Jokic had to sit out the middle portions of the 4th quarter, but returned with under 3 minutes to go.

Murray hit the game-tying shot from mid-range with 13.5 seconds left in the game. Then Christian Braun played great defense on Jalen Brunson that ended in a Knicks miss. A straight-away deep 3 from Jokic at the 4th quarter buzzer rimmed out and the Nuggets went to overtime on the second night of their back-to-back.

Clutch free-throws from CB

This game looked over after a Jamal Murray 3 at the buzzer of OT was way off. But Mikal Bridges was whistled for a loose ball foul on Christian Braun with .3 seconds on the clock.

Braun sunk both clutch free-throws to send the game to another overtime.