Donovan Mitchell and Jamal Murray battled to the buzzer, and carved out space in the NBA record books.
When Murray’s 3-pointer swished to set the final margin in Utah’s 129-127 Game 4 victory, it boosted him to 50 points on the night, making this the first game in NBA postseason history that opposing players each reached that threshold. It also made him the first Nuggets player to reach that mark in the playoffs since Dnever joined the NBA in 1976-77.
Mitchell, who had crossed 50 and landed on 51 at the free-throw line seconds earlier, became just the third player in NBA history to score 50 more than once in the same series, joining Michael Jordan (vs. Cleveland, 1988) and Allen Iverson (vs. Toronto, 2001).
Some other notes on the dueling 50-point performances:
* Murray’s 50-point performance marks a new Nuggets franchise record for points in a postseason game. No Nuggets player has scored 50+ points in a playoff game since the Nuggets joined the NBA in 1976-77.
* Mitchell’s 158 points is the most for any player in a four-game span within a single postseason, since Michael Jordan scored 173 points in the last four games of the 1993 Finals.
* After tonight’s 51-point outing, Mitchell is averaging 39.5 ppg plus 5.8 apg while shooting 51.4% from 3-point range, 56.4% overall and 95.5% from the line. His scoring average currently leads the playoffs.
* Iverson had a pair of games with 50 or more points in the 2001 playoffs, while Jordan accomplished the feat in ’88 and ’93.
Mitchell previously ripped off 57 in a Game 1 loss. Utah now leads the series, 3-1. Game 5 is set for Tuesday at 6:30 ET (TNT).
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
