About Last Night

About Last Night: Murray headlines night of big numbers

A pair of 40-point performances, two 20-20s and a whole lot more from a busy NBA Monday

Matt Petersen, NBA.com

If the Nuggets are to make the leap from edge of the lottery to playoff contention, more Jamal Murray might be the X-factor to get there. In 2017-18, the Nuggets were 12-4 when the former seventh overall pick scored 25 or more points.

Murray nearly doubled that total on Monday night, pouring in 48 points in Denver’s statement win over the Celtics. And no, Kyrie Irving was not pleased when Murray did try to hit the 50-point mark with the game already well in hand.

“What kind of competitor wouldn’t it bother?” Irving explained postgame.

More important to the Nuggets are the 48 points Murray did score, which helped Denver earn the kind of win that punctuates their red-hot start to the season. Denver is now 9-1, tied with Golden State for best in the West.

They’ve done it despite Murray’s scoring and efficiency dropping, but maybe that’s just more cause to celebrate what the Nuggets could be if Murray is starting to round into form. Nikola Jokic is already a star in the making, but Denver needs others to consistently produce if and when opposing defenses decide to overwhelm its do-it-all big man.

On national television against another elite opponent, Murray showed he could be that guy.

LaVine seizes MSG stage

You hear it from nearly every player that has ever mattered. Madison Square Garden is different. There’s just something about it.

Zach LaVine discovered that something for himself while scoring 41 points in Chicago’s double-overtime, 116-115 win over the Knicks.

The former 13th overall pick has always been a willing shooter, but he’s paired that trigger-happy approach with the best accuracy of his career thus far. LaVine is averaged 27.9 points per game while shooting 47.4 percent from the field — better than Kemba Walker, Donovan Mitchell and Paul George, all of whom likewise attempt more than 19 shots per game.

With Lauri Markkanen still out due to injury, LaVine has been option A, B and C for his team’s offense and opposing defenses. Despite the demand and attention, he’s producing.

Now he’s just got to score 40-plus 12 more times at Madison Square Garden to match Jordan.

Fournier for the win

A reminder on The Horry Scale: It breaks down a game-winning buzzer-beater (GWBB) in the categories of difficulty, game situation (was the team tied or behind at the time?), importance (playoff game or garden-variety night in November?) and celebration. Then we give it an overall grade on a scale of 1-5 Robert Horrys, named for the patron saint of last-second answered prayers.

* * *

In danger of following up an inspired win over the Spurs with a letdown to the Cavs, the Magic secured their first win streak of 2018-19 thanks to Evan Fournier’s 22-footer as time expired.

DIFFICULTY: New Magic head coach Steve Clifford drew up a beauty of an inbounds play, but Cleveland’s Cedi Osman read it perfectly and immediately smothered Fournier on the inbounds catch. The French-born guard was forced to swing the ball quickly from right-to-left, take a quick dribble and use what little space he had created for a dart of a jump shot.

GAME SITUATION: There was no miss-and-go-home stakes at play between these two sub-.500 teams, as the game was tied 100-100. For Fournier, it was huge. The former 20th overall pick shot just 10-for-26 in the last three minutes of five-point games or closer last season. The move and the shot, however, looked as practiced and pure as any pro.

CELEBRATION: Fournier’s teammates appropriately mobbed him immediately after the shot went through. It’s been a long rebuild for the Magic, and Fournier has been along for nearly all of it.

GRADE: There were no big stakes on the table, but it was good to see Orlando on the right side of an early-season nail-biter. Three Horrys.

20-20 man

At the turn of the century, Shaq was king. In the late 2000s, it was Dwight Howard. In the early 2010s, Kevin Love took over.

Make way for Andre Drummond, the new king of the 20-20 club.

The Pistons big man went off for 25 points and 24 rebounds in Detroit’s 120-115 loss to Miami. The performance marked Drummond’s fourth 20-20 game of this season. The last player before Drummond to log four 20-point, 20-rebound outings within the season’s first nine games: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, with six of them in his first year with the Lakers (per Basketball-Reference).

Klay fan man

Just tell us this: how much did it cost?

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