Jamal Murray erupted for 43 factors and Russell Westbrook chipped in 21 in his return from a foot harm, sparking the Nuggets’ 131-115 win over the LA Clippers on Tuesday evening that gave Denver a 3-2 lead within the best-of-seven collection.
The Nuggets additionally acquired 23 from Recreation 4 hero Aaron Gordon and Nikola Jokic’s twenty first profession playoff triple-double (18 factors, 10 rebounds, 12 assists).
Once more, Denver took a 22-point lead early within the fourth quarter solely to observe the Clippers go on a livid run, like they did in Recreation 4 after they erased their whole deficit solely to lose 101-99 when Gordon’s buzzer-beater for the primary walk-off dunk in NBA playoff historical past.
This time, the Clippers went on a 17-4 run to chop their deficit to single digits at 116-107, however the Nuggets fended off one other frenetic end by happening an 11-0 run with Murray scoring six and Gordon 5 to compel Clippers coach Tyronn Lue to empty his bench.
Recreation 6 is Thursday evening on the Intuit Dome and one other win by Denver would arrange a second-round collection in opposition to top-seeded Oklahoma Metropolis.
Ivaca Zubac led the Clippers with a playoff career-high 27 factors, Kawhi Leonard added 20 and Bogdan Bogdanovic added 18.
Murray was 8 of 14 from past the arc and 17 of 26 general. He even sank a 3 from the highest of the important thing that did not rely as a result of the ball left his fingertips a split-second after the purple mild lit up the backboard signaling the tip of the primary half.
That left Denver with a 67-59 lead, which the Nuggets prolonged to 99-83 heading into the fourth quarter thanks to 2 huge 3s within the closing seconds, one by Westbrook and the opposite a 28-footer from Christian Braun.
Westbrook, who sat out Recreation 4 with left foot irritation, returned to motion and scored 16 first-half factors in 12 minutes. His return allowed Nuggets interim coach David Adelman who use his bench extra in spite of everything 5 starters logged at the least 42 minutes in Recreation 4.
The Clippers hadn’t misplaced back-to-back video games since March 4.
Reporting by The Related Press.
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