Denver Nuggets edge Utah Jazz in Game 7 to complete comeback from 3-1 down
Nuggets advance to face LA Clippers in Western Conference semi-finals
Wednesday 2 September 2020 07:42, UK
The Denver Nuggets survived a frantic finish to complete a comeback from a 3-1 postseason deficit on Tuesday night, getting a go-ahead hoop from Nikola Jokic with 27.8 seconds remaining for an 80-78 victory over the Utah Jazz in Game 7 of their Western Conference first-round series.
The 4-3 win vaults the third-seeded Nuggets, who had never previously rallied to win a series from down 3-1, into a second-round match-up with the second-seeded LA Clippers. Game 1 takes place in the early hours of Friday morning, live on Sky Sports.
After sixth-seeded Utah forged a 78-all tie on a Rudy Gobert dunk with 47.5 seconds left, the Nuggets went to Jokic inside against the Jazz's ace defender, and the Denver big man came through with a short hook shot in the lane for the game's final points.
The Jazz had two subsequent possessions. First, the Nuggets stripped the ball from Donovan Mitchell with 8.4 seconds to go. But rather than try to run out the clock, Denver rushed the ball up the floor and watched Torrey Craig miss a contested lay-up with 4.4 seconds remaining.
Gobert rebounded and got the ball to Mike Conley, who had a good look at a potential game-winning three-pointer just before the final buzzer but watched the shot rim out.
The Nuggets prevailed despite getting just 17 points on 7-for-21 shooting from Jamal Murray, who suffered a bruised thigh in a collision with Utah's Joe Ingles in the second quarter.
Jokic paced the Nuggets with a game-high 30 points, completing a double-double with 14 rebounds. Michael Porter Jr chipped in with 10 points off the bench for Denver, who won despite shooting just 37.3 per cent and scoring only 30 points in the second half.
After a slow start, Mitchell led the Jazz with 22 points, shooting 9-for-22, while Gobert had 19 to complement a game-high 18 rebounds.
Mitchell connected on a pair of three-pointers (on eight attempts), giving him 33 treys in the seven games and enabling him to break Stephen Curry's single-series postseason record of 32, set in 2016. Murray wound up with 32 three-pointers in the series, though he was just 1-for-6 from long distance in Game 7.
Mitchell's 13 third-quarter points rallied the Jazz into contention after they had trailed by as many as 19 points. Conley and Gobert then combined for all the points in an 8-0 run to begin the fourth period and give Utah their first lead since the first quarter at 68-65.
Denver subsequently regained a four-point lead on two consecutive hoops by Murray, the latter making it 78-74 with 1:43 to go.
But Utah made one last charge, rallying into a 78-all tie with 47.5 seconds to go on hoops by Royce O'Neal and Gobert, both assisted by Conley, setting up the wild finish.
