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Mitchell vs Murray: Shootout For the Ages

By: Ben Christopher

There are a lot of superstars playing well in the 2020 NBA playoffs. Lebron James has looked amazing with 2 triple doubles in the first round. Kawhii is reminding everyone that he’s a reining world champion, and the NBA finals MVP. Luka Doncic had the best first playoff appearance of anyone I’ve ever seen (check out our last episode of Ultimate Warriors for some comparisons to other all-time greats.) However, no stars have shined brighter than Donovan Mitchell of the Utah Jazz and Jamal Murray of the Denver Nuggets, and I hope you’ve been watching. 

If you tell me that you saw these performances coming, you’re lying. Yes, we knew Mitchell would need to score more with the Jazz second leading scorer Bojan Bogdanovic out, but no one expected this. On the other side, Jamal Murray isn’t even the best player on the Nuggets!

I know these are small markets, and the NBA ratings have been down, but people, take notice! This series will go down as one for the ages. We have never seen a battle like this, and let me explain why.

Let’s start with game four of this series. It was unbelievable. Murray did everything he could to try to take the game for the Nuggets scoring 50 points, but Mitchell managed to get a win for the Jazz scoring an incredible 51 points, in a 129-127 win. This is the first time that players on opposing teams have scored 50 points since Allen Iverson and Vince Carter back in their famous 2001 series. Think about that. There have been many great players who have played against each other since 2001. Lebron vs. Durant. Harden vs. Curry. Shaq vs. Duncan. Nash vs. Nowitzki. I could go on, but you get the point. 

In that same game, Mitchell became just the 3rd player IN NBA HISTORY to have two 50-point games in a series. The other two, Michael Jordan and Allen Iverson, ever heard of them? Those are NBA legends! Then fast-forward to game 6, Jamal Murray keeps his team alive in the series scoring 50 points. That has NEVER been done. Two players in the same series having multiple 50-point games. Donovan Mitchell also became the first player since Allen Iverson to have three straight 40-point games. RIP Kobe, but I think we would all would have expected Kobe to do this rather than Mitchell.  

NBA Classics, you’re welcome, you have a few new games to add into the rotation. These games felt more like March madness than NBA playoffs, with these two players hitting shot after shot to keep their teams alive. In the end, the Nuggets win an EXTREMELY CLOSE game 7. Humble brag, I called the Nuggets comeback when they were down 3-1. Cav’s fans have seen that before. Can we just do a best of 25? I don’t want this madness to end.