August 23, 2020 wasn’t just another playoff night, it was a seismic moment in NBA history. In a thrilling Game 4 showdown between the Utah Jazz and Denver Nuggets, Donovan Mitchell and Jamal Murray delivered one of the most electrifying duels the league has ever seen. Both stars erupted for 50+ points, marking the first time in NBA postseason history that opposing players reached the half-century mark in the same game.
Mitchell was surgical, scoring 51 points on 15-of-27 shooting and an astonishing 17-of-18 from the free-throw line. He controlled the tempo and attacked relentlessly. Murray, meanwhile, was a flamethrower, dropping 50 points on 18-of-31 shooting, including 9-of-15 from deep, while adding 11 rebounds and 7 assists. His final three-pointer narrowed the gap to 129–127, but Utah held on for the win.
Mitchell became just the third player in NBA history to record multiple 50-point games in a single playoff series, joining Michael Jordan (1988) and Allen Iverson (2001). Murray’s performance set a new franchise record for most points in a playoff game by a Nuggets player since the team joined the NBA in 1976.
Over the course of the series, Mitchell averaged 39.5 points per game while shooting over 56% from the field and 95.5% from the line. Murray, equally relentless, would go on to drop another 50-point game in Game 6, fueling Denver’s improbable comeback.
Despite Utah’s 3–1 series lead after Game 4, Denver refused to fold. Murray’s heroics, paired with Nikola Jokić’s steady brilliance, propelled the Nuggets to three straight wins, culminating in a dramatic Game 7 victory. It was the first of two 3–1 comebacks Denver would pull off in the 2020 bubble playoffs.
