After a flowing, offense-forward Game 1, the first three quarters of Game 2 were a grinder’s game: defensive, physical, more scoring in the paint (and missed 3s), and plenty of whistles.
Then Jamal Murray happened. He took over in the fourth quarter, the Nuggets as a team found their offensive flow for about seven minutes — including being +6 in the non-Jokić minutes — and Denver took the lead then hung on for the Game 2 win.
The Nuggets held serve at home and lead the series 2-0 heading back to Los Angeles for Game 3 on Saturday. Here are three takeaways from Game 2.
The negative narrative some pushed around Nikola Jokic’s MVP candidacy — “Why are we rewarding a guy who hasn’t won big in the playoffs with three straight MVPs?” — willfully ignored a key point.