Wednesday, 17 April 2019:
Denver Nuggets have erased a 19-point deficit to defeat Patty Mills's San Antonio Spurs and even their NBA play-off series at 1-1.
The Spurs appeared to be cruising to their second consecutive road win in their western conference first-round showdown but a late shooting explosion by Jamal Murray gave the Nuggets a 114-105 win in Denver.
The Nuggets outscored the Spurs 39-23 in the final quarter on Tuesday.
Australian point-guard Mills had a quiet night with five points and five assists in 20 minutes off the bench.
Murray, who had been in a shooting slump in the series and missed his first eight shots of the game, connected with his last seven to lead the Nuggets with 24 points.
He credited Nuggets coach Michael Malone for not losing faith in him.
"I played horrible for three quarters and he told me to keep shooting," Murray said.
The Nuggets trailed by as many as 19 points in the third quarter.
Malone said the turning point came when the deficit was 16 points midway through the third period and he called a timeout to remindhis team of the Los Angeles Clippers' play-off record 31-point comeback win against the Golden State Warriors on Monday.
"I said it is only going to happen if we believe, we commit and we fight and the guys took it to heart and we closed the game on a 57-32 run," he said.
The Spurs were led by DeMar DeRozan's 31 points.
The next two games of the best-of-seven series are in San Antonio, starting on Thursday.
"It's on us to go home and do what we need to do," DeRozan said.
In other play-off games, the Toronto Raptors, powered by Kawhi Leonard's 37 points, beat the Orlando Magic 111-82 to even their series at 1-1.
Portland Trail Blazers defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder 114-94 to take a 2-0 lead on the back of 33 points from CJ McCollum and 29 from fellow guard Damian Lillard.
The Thunder's New Zealand centre Steven Adams had 16 points and nine rebounds while point guard Russell Westbrook shot just 25 per cent from the field to finish with 14 points, nine rebounds and 11 assists.
