Whatever heroic there is in Donovan Mitchell for the Utah Jazz, the Denver Nuggets have got an answer to it in Jamal Murray. The 23-year-old led the nuggets to tie the series 3-3 in a 50point performance win over the Jazz, 119-107 to force game 7 in the early hours of tomorrow.
Murray scored 50 points (17/24 shooting, 9/12 from beyond the arc) and 5 rebounds and 6 assists recording 25 of those points in the first half (another 25 in the second half) of the game thus becoming the second player in the last 20 seasons with three 25points halves in a single play off series alongside Allen Iverson in 2001 eastern conference semi finals.
Earlier in Game 5 when Murray outscored Mitchell for the first time in the series 42-30 to win it for Nuggets 117-107, the 2016 NBA draft 7th overall pick needed 31 points more in game 6 to Surpass Carmelo Anthony (2010) for the most points in Nuggets history in a first round play off series. With the 50 Game 6 points, Murray totals 204 points in 6 games in the playoffs averaging 34 per game. It appears the nuggets are sure to win each time Murray outscores Mitchell.
According to ESPN Stats and Info, Murray is the first player since Michael Jordan in the 1993 NBA Finals to drop three-straight 40-point plus games in a playoff series.
Murray’s game 6 50 points were on 70% shooting and this matched a 26-year-old record by being the second player in league history to score 50 points on 70 percent shooting since Charles Barkley did it in 1994 against the Golden State Warriors.
He and his opposite number Donovan Mitchell plus two others in Allen Iverson and Michael Jordan are the only four players in league history to put up 50 in a playoff series twice.
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