Jamal Murray Drops 34 as Nuggets Beat Damian Lillard, Blazers to Tie Series at 2

The Denver Nuggets tied their second-round playoff series against the Portland Trail Blazers at two games apiece with a 116-112 victory in Sunday's Game 4 at Moda Center.

After losing a Game 3 heartbreaker in four overtimes, Denver reclaimed home-court advantage by earning the split it needed in the past two games in Portland.

Nikola Jokic was brilliant with a triple-double of 21 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists, battling through a limp and any lingering fatigue from the last contest. It was far from a solo effort for the visitors, though, as Jamal Murray (34 points, five rebounds, four assists and six clutch free throws in the final 14 seconds) and Paul Millsap (21 points and 10 boards) helped propel Denver to victory.

Portland Trail Blazers vs. Denver Nuggets - Game Highlights

CJ McCollum (29 points and five rebounds) and Damian Lillard (28 points and seven assists) spearheaded the losing effort for the Trail Blazers, but Murray didn't give them a chance for any late heroics.

Jamal Murray is the Key to Unlocking Nuggets' Full Potential

Jamal Murray Highlights

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Lillard was the guard who generated the majority of the headlines coming into this series, but Denver has a go-to option of its own who has stood toe-to-toe with the All-Star.

Murray scored 34 points in each of the last two games after scoring 23 with eight assists in a Game 1 win and is playing some of the best basketball of his career. It is another sign of his development into a franchise cornerstone after he posted a career-high 18.2 points and 4.8 assists a night during the regular season.

His emergence as a reliable option after an inconsistent first round has also unlocked Denver's potential as more than just a single-round victor.

The Nuggets have their pillars in the frontcourt, and they were both impressive for extended stretches in Sunday's win. Millsap was a primary reason why the visitors had an answer almost every time Portland went on a run, as they knew they could turn to him on the blocks or count on him calmly playing off Jokic and working into openings on the other side of the rim.

He is the veteran leader who helped Denver survive the early Portland spurts and raucous crowd that sensed a 3-1 lead, and overcoming those emotional swings put the team in position to go to Murray and Jokic in crunch time.

Jokic answered with an array of plays in the closing stretch that underscored his status as a premier playmaker in the league. He found Will Barton for two critical three-pointers to extend the lead to two possessions each time, one of which came on a pump fake and drive from the big man on the perimeter.

He also dished to a cutting Gary Harris for an and-1 to extend the lead to six, limped off the court after the play and still returned for the final minute to help clinch the win. As if that weren't enough, his standing tip-in with one hand after Lillard scored two straight baskets sent a message that Portland's guard wasn't going to take the game over in the final minutes without a counterpunch.

Jokic is the All-Star in the middle who operates much of the offense, and Millsap is the quiet general, but Denver needed more to ward off the red-hot Trail Blazers and their pair of game-changing guards.

Enter Murray, who gives the team the third option to win two of the next three games and perhaps even challenge the combination of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson or James Harden and Chris Paul in the next round.

He is gaining confidence in this showdown with the McCollum-Lillard duo and is often a barometer for the Nuggets' results. He scored 23 or more points in all four wins in the first round against the San Antonio Spurs but had 17, 16 and an ugly six in the three losses.

Denver lost by seven in Game 2 against Portland when he had just 15 but is 2-1 with a four-overtime loss in the other three when he played well.

The Nuggets are a title contender when Murray plays like he has the last two games. They are nothing but narrow first-round victors when he struggles.

Portland's Struggles on the Glass Will Ruin Magical Playoff Run

Nikola Jokic Highlights

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Denver won Game 1, but it looked as if the Trail Blazers may survive the frontcourt mismatch and win the series after they allowed just seven offensive rebounds despite playing without Jusuf Nurkic and Enes Kanter dealing with a shoulder injury.

So much for that.

The absence of Nurkic has been brutal for the Trail Blazers in terms of preventing offensive rebounds, and Zach Collins and Meyers Leonard have not provided enough support for Kanter. Leonard isn't even in the rotation at this point, and Collins had a single rebound in Sunday's loss.

It was more of the same for a Nuggets squad that grabbed 23 offensive rebounds in Game 2, 24 in Game 3 and another 17 in Game 4.

Portland's crowd wanted to explode and take control of Sunday's contest on numerous occasions, but the team was unable to capitalize and build sustained runs and momentum with the Nuggets getting so many second and third chances.

It is also one thing for Jokic (six offensive rebounds) to be creating those chances as one of the best big men in the league, but even Harris and Mason Plumlee had three offensive boards each from the backcourt and bench, respectively.

The Trail Blazers have been consistently lost when shots go up, partially due to Jokic's ability to pull opposing bigs from the rim. The offensive rebounding is now a major storyline in the series, and Denver's frontcourt advantage seems to grow with every game even though Kanter deserves credit for fighting through his injury.

Lillard and McCollum can only do so much on the other side if their bigs aren't setting them up with rebounds and preventing second chances.

Every game in this series has been decided by single digits, putting additional emphasis on each possession. It is not difficult to envision the Trail Blazers up 3-1 if they could rebound at a higher level, and the memorable playoff run that includes Lillard's 37-foot buzzer-beater, a four-overtime victory and a real chance at the Western Conference Finals will quickly be a thing of the past if there aren't drastic improvements in the paint.

What's Next?

The series returns to Denver for Tuesday's Game 5.