Denver’s first snow brought Murray flurries to Indianapolis as the Denver Nuggets star guard put the Pacers on ice behind a dumping of 52 points.
The week started with the wonder of just how much snow Denver would get on Wednesday. The answer was a lot.
On the hardwood, the week started with a question about Jamal Murray. He left Monday’s loss with an ankle injury that made him a game-time decison in Indy. So, when would Murray play again? Wednesday, and he did so at peak form.
“Honestly, I was good from the start,” Murray told the Nuggets broadcast after the game. “Warm-up was good. Momentum was good. Body felt great. So yeah, just had a rolling all game.”
Murray was feeling himself so much that he even broke out the rarely seen these days Blue Arrow celebration after he went over 50.
— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) December 4, 2025
Murray’s 52 points came on 19 of 25 shooting, including 10 of 11 makes from deep — one connect shy of JR Smith’s franchise record of 11. He also added six rebounds and four assists in his 36 minutes of action. It’s the fifth time in Murray’s career, including the playoffs, that he’s flamed for a century points or more. His efforts powered Denver to an eighth-straight victory away from Colorado by beating down the 135-120 Pacers, which is a new Mile High City franchise record of consecutive wins on the road.
“That is insane efficiency,” David Adelman said. “I didn’t realize he had as many points as he did, to be honest. We were going to him a lot, but yeah, you can tell when he gets in a certain rhythm, the way the ball comes off his hand, the way he releases his legs, he just has that feeling… There are nights when he can be really special shooting the ball. He’s always special offensively, but just the rhythm he had all night in the flow.”
The game was mostly a runaway from the second quarter on, but Jokic, who appeared under the weather, had to check back into the win during the fourth quarter when a sour stretch to begin the final period forced Adelman’s hand and made the blowout a bit closer for a beat. Jokic was on the injury report pregame as he continues to deal with a year-long wrist issue, but he left the game early in the first quarter and wore a hood over his head for more time than usual. Bruce Brown was sick earlier this week, so there could be a bug following the Nuggets around.
The game win was never really in doubt, but the Pacers’ comeback forced Murray to keep scoring and for Jokic to keep playing. The three-time MVP tallied a stat-stuffing game of 24 points, 13 assists and eight rebounds.
Brown provided some strong pop off the bench against his former team, tying his season high with 14 points. Jonas Valanciunas and Tim Hardaway Jr. joined Brown by each adding some scoring punch with nine and 11 off the bench, respectively.
Spencer Jones left the game with right knee soreness and did not return, adding another body to the injury ledger, which includes the absences of Aaron Gordon, Christian Braun and Julian Strawther.
Jamal Murray’s 52-point night
Jokic, like Murray, has tallied 50 in a game this season, as has the now-injured Gordon. The trio each hitting that mark means that the Nuggets are one of three teams in NBA history that have had a triumvirate of players hit 50 in a game, joining the 1961-62 Lakers and 2018-19 Warriors.
Murray joins Wilt Chamberlain, who did it three times — one was at a neutral site — and Michael Jordan, who also did it twice, as the lone three players in NBA history who have had multiple road games in their career with 50-plus points on 75% or better shooting.
Murray’s night was the eighth-most points scored in a game in Nuggets history and just the ninth time in NBA history a player has scored that many points with five or fewer free throw attempts. Murray has the lone 50-point game in NBA history without shooting a free throw, which happens to be just one of four 50-point games in NBA history more efficient by true shooting percentage than Wednesday’s. The top on that list is actually Gordon’s effort against the Warriors earlier this season.
Murray and Gordon are responsible for the lone two games in NBA history where a player scored 50 or more points and made 10 or more threes on 90% three-point shooting. Those performances came about six weeks apart, and both were on the road.
Jamal Murray tonight recorded the 5th-most efficient 50-point game in NBA history by True Shooing Percentage (95.6%)
Top 5
1: Aaron Gordon, 1.058%, 10-23-25
2: Kyrie Irving, 1.011%, 3-8-22
3: Fred VanVleet, 1.001%, 2-2-21
4: Jamal Murray, 1.000%, 2-19-21
5: Murray — tonight
— Jake Shapiro, but festive 👻🦃🎄 (@Shapalicious) December 4, 2025
What’s next for the Nuggets?
The Nuggets continue their four-game road trip on Friday in Atlanta. The team is in the midst of 12 contests in a 17-game stretch that are away from Denver. So if there was ever a time for a franchise-best win streak away from the Mile High City, now is a great time.
