Denver Nuggets V Utah Jazz (Jazz lead 3-1)
The Nuggets tried their hardest to make this series 2-2 in game four but came up just short—a wasted career game for Jamal Murray. The Jazz have outplayed the Nuggets in every game this series, and it really looked like the Nuggets had their last gasp. Instead, the Nuggets refuse to leave the bubble.
The Jazz jumped out to a nine-point lead at the half, and the Nuggets could have easily just thrown in the towel, but they came back invigorated and knocked off some of the lead down to four.
The Nuggets took the momentum from the third quarter and cruised in the fourth quarter, winning, 117-107, to keep their team alive for a game 6. Jamal Murray (17-26FG 4-8 3PT 4-4FT 42PTS 8REB 8AST 1STL 41MIN) stayed hot and led the Nuggets to a huge win. He is playing the best basketball of his career right now. Nikola Jokic (12-19FG 7-11 3PT 31PTS 6REB 4AST 1BLK 2TO 43MIN) with his consistently great play helped Murray save the Nuggets’ season.
The biggest thing the Nuggets were able to do on Monday was slow down Jazz G Donavon Mitchell (11-23FG 30PTS 4TO). Although his “slowed down” still gets 30 points. Still, Mitchell has two different 50 point games in this series and is the highest-scoring player in the playoffs so far.
If the Nuggets want to keep their season, they need to keep the defensive intensity they played in the second half on Tuesday, for a chance to push this series to the all-deciding 7th game.
Los Angeles Clippers V Dallas Mavericks (Tied at 2-2)
After the most exciting game of the playoffs, it was going to be interesting to see how these teams came out in game five. The Mavericks had Luka Doncic’s historic game and back-breaking, buzzer-beater after they erased a 21 point deficit in game four. Could they keep that momentum? How would the Clippers recover from a game they should never have lost.
The Clippers were on a mission, and game five was over after the first 12 minutes of the game. They would not make the mistake of letting Doncic (6-17FG 1-6 3PT 5TO 22PTS) out of their sights. The Clippers won 154-111, a new record for the most points in a regulation playoff game, which was just set a couple of days ago by the Toronto Raptors (150).
Paul George is finally out of his funk. He and Kawhi Leonard shot for a combined for 67 points. With George’s aim back and the Clippers focused on a game plan, this series will be over on Thursday.