Jamal Murray vs. Donovan Mitchell was the greatest scoring duel in NBA playoff history

The first round of the NBA Playoffs are wrapping up, and we’ve already witnessed one the greatest duels the sport has ever seen.

Denver vs. Utah featured a battle for the ages between a former Wildcat and Cardinal, as Jamal Murray and Donovan Mitchell clashed for seven games and had the greatest scoring output two opponents have ever had.

That’s right. Murray vs. Mitchell featured an NBA record for combined points between two foes in an playoff series. The two combined for 475 points, 65 three-pointers, nine 30+ point games, and four 50+ point games.

The total points broke the NBA record that was previously held by NBA Hall of Famers Jerry West and John Havlicek in the 1969 Finals, where they combined 463 points in that series.

Going into the 2020 playoffs, all-time great Michael Jordan (1988 first round) and fellow Hall of Famer Allen Iverson (2001 second round) were the only players in NBA history to put up two 50-point games in a single playoff series.

Murray and Mitchell both matched that, as the former Card went for 57 points in Game 1 and 51 in Game 4, while Murray got to 50 in Games 4 and 6.

Murray also went for 42 in Game 5 and wound up averaging 31.5 points per game on 55% shooting, including 55% from deep and 92% from the charity stripe.

Mitchell averaged 36.2 ppg on 53-percent shooting, including 51.5% from deep and 95% from the free-throw line.

Now, you can enjoy the full seven-game duel between the two Bluegrass rivals with this compilation from the NBA:

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