Kitchener's finest did it yet again.
Jamal Murray is arguably the biggest playoff riser in the NBA right now, and if his buzzer-beating game-winner from Game 2 over Anthony Davis didn't prove it, his encore on Monday should have.
Murray had the ball in his hands in the waning moments of a tied-ball game and like he's done so many times, he trusted himself to make the final shot. The 27-year-old drove to the left and rose up over Austin Reaves to drill a mid-range jumper that gave the Denver Nuggets a lead and the win over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 5.
Murray iced the game and sent LeBron James and the Lakers packing for the second consecutive season. He finished with 32 points, three rebounds and seven assists while battling a calf strain that had him as a game-time decision entering the night.
Nuggets' head coach Mike Malone was asked post-game about how much he trusted Murray with the final shot and his answer was brief yet telling.
"The utmost confidence," he said "That’s why I didn’t call a timeout. Let the best 2-man game in the business play their game and get to their spots. For Jamal, to add to his playoff lore by having two game-winners in a series is just incredible.”
Murray's heroics helped Denver advance, and keep their pursuit of back-to-back titles alive. They'll take on the Minnesota Timberwolves, who swept the Phoenix Suns, in the second round.
Here are the best reactions from around the basketball world to Murray's second game-winner of the series.
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