After carefully keeping his feet in, Jamal Murray of Denver recovered Minnesota’s botched inbounds pass close to the sideline, rebalanced his body, and finished the first half with a 55-foot shot.

With a little more nudging from behind the half-court line, Murray ducked down to get his heave going. He then watched as the ball sailed straight toward the hoop and, swish!, struck a pose in front of the broadcast table.

Very ill. When you accomplish something like that, people say, “Well, at least we know our point guard is hot,” according to Aaron Gordon, who scored 25 points on 12-of-13 shooting on Sunday night in Game 4 of the Western Conference playoffs against the Timberwolves, a game that tied the series at 115-107.

The Nuggets rushed to embrace their colleague as TNT broadcaster Kevin Harlan joyfully announced the incredible play, showing their gratitude for the 15-point halftime advantage he had just handed them. Star Nikola Jokic was not present at the celebration since he said he was already going to the locker room to relax.

Murray gave the reigning champions quite the dagger there.

Nothing extremely strange. Murray, who finished with 19 points after starting with just four, remarked, “It felt good from the moment it left my hand.” That’s all there is to it.

After Anthony Edwards’ 3-pointer cut the gap to seven points, the Nuggets scored eight points in a row over the final 20 seconds of the second quarter to stave off a home team comeback. The Nuggets were the first NBA team to score eight points in the last 20 seconds of a second quarter since they accomplished it on April 24, 2005, during a playoff game against San Antonio, according to Sportradar research.

As Edwards drove into the lane following a 3-pointer by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, he lost possession of the ball. Nikola Jokic’s outlet pass was met with a fast-break slam by Michael Porter Jr. Then, following a valiant inbound of the ball by Nickeil Alexander-Walker for the Timberwolves in the direction of Jaden McDaniels, Murray swooped in to put the finishing touches to an outstanding first half for the Nuggets.

“Having a segment like that is unacceptable,” Chris Finch, the coach of the Timberwolves, stated. “We had performed admirably in regaining control of the game.”