Denver Narrowly Escapes Utah, Wins 134-132 in Double Overtime
Jamal Murray and Paul Millsap returned to the Nuggets’ starting lineup Saturday afternoon as Denver took on the Utah Jazz.
In the first, Utah came out firing, shooting 5-11 from three and got eight points from center Rudy Gobert. Utah’s hot shooting combined with their stifling defense (Denver shot 32 percent from the field in the first quarter) aided them in taking a 14-point lead at the end of one.
In the second quarter, the Jazz maintained their hot hand as Utah’s Jordan Clarkson and Georges Niang hit a combined five threes. The Jazz headed into the break with a 14-point lead (63-49).
Through two quarters, Murray scored 10 points on 4-9 shooting and Jerami Grant totaled 12 points and two steals off Denver’s bench.
On both ends of the floor, Denver flipped a switch to start the second half. Utah missed five of their first six field goals and back-to-back threes from Nikola Jokic brought the Nuggets within seven (67-60) with 8:51 remaining in the third.
Jokic and Michael Porter Jr. combined for 25 points on 7-12 shooting in the third quarter after being held to a combined four points on 1-9 shooting in the first half. But as those two rested at the end of the third period, Denver fell into another hole. The Nuggets trailed by nine (88-79) at the end of three.
After trailing by as much as 18 points earlier in the game, the Nuggets opened the fourth quarter on a 9-0 run and tied the game at 88. After a Clarkson three-ball, both teams went cold for nearly three minutes. But with 3:54 remaining, Porter Jr. knocked down a 17-footer to bring the Nuggets within two (96-94).
With two minutes remaining, Murray got Gobert to bite on a hesitation move and his layup tied the game at 98. With 43 seconds on the clock, Murray drilled a step back jumper to give Denver a two-point lead (100-98).
Denver looked in the clear after Murray converted a tough transition layup and Grant knocked down two free throws with 19 seconds remaining, which gave Denver their biggest lead of the afternoon (104-98).
But following Grant’s free throws, a questionable foul was called on Murray that sent Mitchell to the line where he converted both his free throws (104-100). Denver then failed to inbound the ball on their next possession, and Mitchell drilled a contested three (104-103) with 7.8 seconds remaining.
With 7.1 seconds left, Grant was fouled and split his free throws which gave the Nuggets a two-point lead (105-103). On Utah’s final offensive possession of regulation time, Mitchell scored an uncontested layup with 0.9 seconds remaining to tie the game at 105. Murray missed the potential game-winning three and the contest headed to overtime.
Denver scored the first six points of extra time, but despite Gobert fouling out, an and-one jumper from Mike Conley gave Utah momentum. Mitchell scored eight straight points for Utah, which included a 17-foot pull up jumper that gave the Jazz a two-point lead (119-117) with 3.4 seconds remaining.
On the ensuing possession, the Nuggets inbounded the ball to Jokic, he drove baseline and scored a layup—but the clock never started. After official review, it was concluded that Jokic scored with 0.3 seconds remaining and the game was tied at 119. Clarkson’s miss on the final possession of overtime sent the game into a second overtime.
Denver and Utah continued to trade baskets in the second overtime, but a Murray three-pointer gave the Nuggets a five-point lead (128-123) with 1:32 remaining. Denver pushed their lead to seven (130-123) following two Porter Jr. free throws, but Utah refused to quit, as Conley knocked down two consecutive threes to bring Utah within three (132-129).
The Nuggets took a timeout and Grant was fouled with 7.8 seconds left on the clock. He pushed the lead to five (134-129), but Mitchell hit yet another three to bring Utah within two points (134-132). With 4.2 seconds on the clock, the Jazz fouled Murray, an 89 percent free-throw shooter this season, and he missed both his attempts at the line. But without any timeouts, Utah had to travel the length of the floor and take a half-court heave to win the game, which was off the mark, and the Nuggets escaped with a 134-132 victory.
Mitchell lead all scorers with 35 points in the game, and Jokic was a close second, scoring 30 points and totaling 11 rebounds and 7 assists.
Murray, in his first game back from injury, scored 23 points and corralled a career-high 12 rebounds in the win. Porter Jr. had yet another double-double, scoring 23 points and totaling 11 rebounds, and Jerami Grant, who played 47 minutes off the Nuggets’ bench, scored 21 points in the game.
Denver’s win puts them two games ahead of the fourth-seeded Houston Rockets, and simultaneously knocked Utah down to the sixth seed, establishing a potential first-round playoff series.
For their next match up, Denver faces the first-seeded Los Angeles Lakers on Monday, Aug. 10 at 9 p.m. EST.