Jamal Murray watched the shot drop, heard the whistle and let Landry Shamet know about it.
The ensuing technical foul for taunting barely registered — especially after Kevin Durant missed the free throw that came with it.
Murray’s message, on the other hand, came through loud and clear.
A lackluster first half? Ancient history. A Game 5 knockout punch? Coming right up.
“I’m just trying to get myself going sometimes,” Murray said. “… Sometimes I just need a little energy boost myself and once I’m in attack mode, it kind of changes the game. It’s nothing personal, I’m just playing the game.”
Murray’s engine throttled into full gear and the Nuggets roared to life right along with him. Footprint Center, this is not.
Back at home on the Front Range, Murray and two-time MVP Nikola Jokic authored a basketball clinic of a third quarter and propelled Denver to a crucial 118-102 Game 5 victory over Phoenix to claim a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference semifinals.
The Nuggets will have a chance to claim a spot in the conference final on Thursday night in the desert.
They have their two best players to thank for it, though almost everybody took a turn in the Ball Arena limelight as they wrestled control of the series back from the Suns.
Jokic and Murray led from the vanguard for Denver’s most important run of the season. In a 21-6 burst to start the second half, they combined for the first 14 points. In a 39-25 quarter overall, Jokic went 6 of 6 from the floor and poured in 17 points while Murray shrugged off a slow start to add seven points, three assists, three rebounds and a floor game that couldn’t have looked more different than the opening 24 minutes.
“In the second half we were really, really, really good,” Jokic said. “… Just aggressiveness, helping, being there for a teammate, screening. Everything was working good for us.”
For Jokic, too, who tallied 29 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists and passed Wilt Chamberlain with his NBA-record 10th postseason triple-double as a center.
“I think sometimes we maybe take Nikola Jokic for granted because what he is doing is simply incredible,” coach Michael Malone said. “Every single night. … Never gets rattled, Cool Hand Luke and we’re just so thankful he’s a Denver Nugget.”
Murray had all but two of his 19 points in the second half and Bruce Brown (25 points) Michael Porter Jr. (19) provided scoring punch and energy.
Denver had 32 assists on 42 field goals and had five players tally double figures in the scoring column. After just 11 bench points Sunday, Denver got 34 in Game 5.
“Because we defended and because we rebounded, we got 31 fast-break points. That’s who we are,” Malone said.
Suns stars Devin Booker and Kevin Duran saw their efficiency recede from molten to simply good, combining for 54 points on 18-of-33 shooting after averaging 79 per game in two wins at home.
Good wasn’t close enough to knock off the Nuggets on this night.
The Nuggets made good on a promise made between Phoenix and Denver to make life more difficult on the duo. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Aaron Gordon at times picked up Booker and Durant, their respective marks for the series, in the back court and made them work just to get the ball up the floor.
“It’s just acknowledging that we gave him too much space in Games 3 and 4,” Caldwell-Pope said of Booker. “We let him get into a good rhythm and it turned out bad for us.”
His defense and Porter’s offense launched Denver out to an early 15-point lead.
Porter knocked in a quartet of 3-pointers in the opening stanza, including a transition 3 in which he first gave the ball up to Jokic and then got it back to buy himself time to get into a good rhythm.
“Michael Porter got us going tonight,” said Malone, who gave Caldwell-Pope defensive player of the game honors. “I thought he gave us a huge boost.”
All of that went begging in the second quarter, however. Porter and Gordon combined for 22 in the first 12 minutes and then just two in the second quarter. The Nuggets hit just 6 of 22 from the floor in the frame and just two points in the first half from Murray, who went 1 of 6, turned the ball over and slipped multiple times on the offensive end.
Then the 26-year-old point guard finished through contact early in the third and woofed at Shamet. Just business. Playoff business.
Next task: Closing out a team that undoubtedly will not accept summer vacation quietly.
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