The Nuggets coach was inspired by the Clippers' rally



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DENVER – The Denver Nuggets, second seed of the Western Conference, lost 16 points against the San Antonio Spurs Tuesday night and about 18 minutes from the fall in a disastrous 0-2 hole in Series.

Denver coach Mike Malone claimed the end of the game with a 5-45 lead in the third quarter. His team was 73-57. The Los Angeles Clippers then managed to convince the Clippers to win their big win against the Golden State Warriors.

"Can I see on the face of some guys how this game will go?" Said Malone. "… I reminded them what the Clippers did [Monday] night and how much basketball is left. It will only happen if we believe, we engage, we fight and we attack, and the guys took it to heart – and we closed the game from that point.

The Nuggets took 19 slopes in the third, but with Jamal Murray erupting for 21 of his 24 points in an explosive fourth quarter, the Nuggets have come off a comeback that could save the season. They earned their first playoff playoff victory, even going into the best seven-to-1-1 series with a 114-105 win over the Spurs.

Although the Nuggets did not overcame a 31-point deficit as the Clippers did one night earlier in a 135-131 win to shock the defending champions, their 19-point swap starting at 04:28 in the third quarter was tied. the third biggest Spurs advance under the orders of coach Gregg Popovich in the playoffs.

"We gave up [39] points in the fourth quarter, end of the story, "said Popovich after the defeat." … Paul [Millsap] and Jamal is for many, of course. They both hurt us terribly and we had no answer for any of them. "

While a large part of the Nuggets team had the playoffs for the first time, Denver was slipped 19 points in the second quarter. Millsap, one of the few Nuggets who has experienced the playoffs, scored 15 points in the first period and prevented Denver from falling far behind.

Murray and Will Barton did not manage to be pissed at the first three quarters, combining a score of 1 for 18 during that period.

Jamal Murray of the Nuggets scored 21 of 24 points in the fourth quarter on Tuesday. Bart Young / NBAE via Getty Images

After shooting 8-for-23 and missing all six 3-point attempts in the opening game, Murray stayed an hour after that fight to get shot on the team's training ground late Saturday night after the defeat. -196 from Denver. In the last 57.7 seconds of the first game, Murray missed a 3-pointer, missed on an 18-foot open foot that would have pushed the Nuggets forward and overturned the ball.

"Just a mental rebound," said Murray about what the two days between games were for him emotionally. "Obviously, I was not happy about myself, frustrated, the way I played … I just rushed in. I was excited." let the crowd, incredible energy, get to me.

"I wanted to go in game 2 relaxed."

Murray tried to start the Pepsi Center early in the second game, but he missed what would have been an early thunder. At half-time, Malone told Murray to calm down and just breathe.

"He was so frustrated at halftime not to make shots, that he did his whole career," said Malone. "I just caught him and told him to take a deep breath, every shot right now is like the end of the world."

Meanwhile, the counterpart of Murray's guardian, Derrick White, who followed his performance in the first game, made 7 shots on 10 Tuesday and scored 17 of his points for the Spurs in the first three quarters.

Gary Harris scored 14 of his 23 points in the third to keep the Nuggets on hand before entering the fourth. Murray, who had missed all eight shots and had just three points after three quarters, fell to the ground early in the fourth and took a look at the crowd of 19,520 spectators.

Murray said seeing all the spectators waving their towels for the playoffs reminded him of his childhood dream of playing in front of a playoff crowd.

Then Murray caught fire. He hit eight consecutive shots of all kinds: pulls, fadeaways, 3 points. Then, in a 19-second sequence, Murray hit every other shot that knocked out the Spurs. He hit a 3-point fadeaway. And after Spurs striker Rudy Gay lost the ball, Murray went down and punched a pull-up 3 in front of Popovich and the Spurs bench to give the Nuggets a 110-101 lead, while the No. 39 it was 2h12 at the exit of the Pepsi Center.

Murray pumped his fist and pulled out his iconic "Blue Arrow" celebration near the scorer's table as the towels for the playoffs floated everywhere.

"Pretty good," Murray said of the moment. "Exactly as I had imagined, when I enter the zone, everyone knows that I'm entering an area … I'm going crazy, I'm having a lot of fun." "Love the game with passion, I had it hot, and I decided to stop."

The series is tied 1-1, and now young Nuggets are heading to San Antonio in the hope of recovering the advantage of the field.

"He needs that," said Malone when asked if he was considering putting Murray on the bench in the fourth, because he was cold. "… I had not expected the fourth quarter that he was going to have, but I knew deep inside him that he needed those minutes, he had to be out, I had to show him that I believed in him. "

"First for Jamal Murray," added Malone of the leader's playoff performance. "I have no doubt."

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