The rain dousing Denver Tuesday night turned into Murray flurries after halftime.

Jamal Murray’s scoring surge to start the third quarter kept the Nuggets in the game while Nikola Jokic and Michael Porter Jr. struggled to make shots early in Game 5 on Tuesday at Ball Arena.

Murray finished with a game-high 35 points, making 12 of 23 shots, including a 5 of 9 mark on 3-pointers, in the series-clinching game. He also had five assists against two turnovers and four rebounds.

“Man, Jamal Murray,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said after Denver’s 112-109 win over Minnesota to finish the first-round series in five games. “That guy, I think, he just lives for big moments, never afraid. And we needed him to have that type of a game tonight.”

With the Nuggets up one to start the second half despite zero first-half points from Porter and Jokic off to a 2-for-10 start shooting, Murray completed a three-point play with a 180-degree layup. He missed the replay but knew it was a highlight of his night.

“I do that sometimes. It was nice,” Murray said postgame. “I haven’t seen that yet, but it was nice.”

Then he hit a 14-foot fadeaway jumper and a step-back 3 right in front of the Timberwolves bench in the first four minutes of the third quarter, a proper flurry from Denver’s point guard. He scored 19 of his points after halftime. A 3-pointer in the final minute of the third quarter put Murray on 28 points to start the fourth. He started the final quarter with another 3 and scored his final points with a floater midway through the fourth quarter. Jokic scored 10 of his 28 points after Murray was done scoring for the night.

“He was amazing,” Jokic said.

“He was our best player this series.”

After Minnesota’s win in Game 4, there was a lot of talk about Nickeil Alexander-Walker’s impact due to his ability to pressure Murray the length of the court. Malone said Alexander-Walker made a name for himself throughout the play-in round and series against Denver. That chatter made its way to Murray.

“The talk was he was doing a decent job, so I had to … that’s my guy, though,” Murray said.

Thanks to Murray’s big night the Nuggets and Suns will have the same number of days to prepare for their second-round series after Phoenix defeated the Clippers in five games later Tuesday night. Murray missed the 2021 second-round series against Phoenix, a Suns sweep, after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament late in that regular season.

“Looking forward to a new matchup, a new challenge,” Murray said. “We’re one step closer to our goal. We’re not going to underestimate them or overrate them. We’re just going to go out there and do what we do, focus on us and have fun playing playoff basketball.”