2023-04-30 03:48:00
Led by Canadian Jamal Murray and Serbian Nikola Jokic, the Denver Nuggets struck first in the NBA Western Conference semifinal by beating the Phoenix Suns 125-107 on Saturday night.
On a stellar night, the Nuggets had offensive performances from Murray and Jokic, who overwhelmed the first with 34 points and 24 cards with a whopping 19 rebounds for the European.
With the victory, the Denver Nuggets started 1-0 up in the top of the Conference semifinals to the best of seven games.
For the Suns, star Kevin Durant stood out in attack, with 29 points and 14 ball recoveries in the rebounding fight, and Devin Booker with 27 and eight assists.
The Nuggets always dominated the game since at halftime they went to the locker room with a 68-51 advantage.
The second game of this best-of-seven series will be next Monday in Denver.
AFP
Murray also made six of Denver’s 16 3-pointers, while Jokic, the reigning NBA MVP, was also immense under the boards, while Aaron Gordon added 23 points for the No. 1 seed Denver in the Western Conference.
For the Suns, Booker, who averaged 37.2 points in the first-round series win over the LA Clippers.
Two years ago the Suns had swept the Nuggets in the ‘Playoffs’ in the second round, without Murray (injured).
Now healthy, Murray is showing off his 2020 form inside the NBA bubble that helped Denver advance to the Western Conference finals.
Leading 106-95 with 7:40 remaining, the Nuggets put together a 14-0 offensive run to close out the game.
Denver led by as many as 25 points and improved to 38-7 at home during the regular season and playoffs.
The difference was the three-point line, where the Nuggets outscored the Suns by a 48-21 margin.
The Nuggets used multiple players to defend once morest Durant, who made just one of three 3-pointers.
Durant has 4,730 points in the ‘Playoffs’ to approach the retired Karl Malone (4,761) in seventh place in the classification of that category in the NBA postseason.
Who is the leading scorer in NBA history?
LeBron James, renowned basketball player and player for the Los Angeles Lakers, is the leading scorer in NBA history, since in the month of February he surpassed the record that Kareem Abdul Jabbar had (38,387 points), in the duel once morest the Oklahoma City Thunder.
And James, who is 38 years old, continues to extend that mark, finishing the regular season with a total of 38,652 points. This record was reached in 1,421 games.
But that’s not all, since he is also the top scorer in the history of the NBA Playoffs, having 7,652 points in 267 games played.
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