Jamal Murray’s still saving his arrows for something bigger.

After scoring a career-high 55 points earlier this season, the Nuggets’ starting point guard with the “Blue Arrow” nickname to boot said he was saving his signature bow-and-arrow celebration for a more important game.

A massive Game 5 performance against the Clippers still didn’t meet Murray’s standards. After giving the Nuggets a 20-point lead on his eighth 3-pointer with 2 minutes and 13 seconds left in Denver’s 131-115 victory, Murray reached back but declined to pull out a projectile.

“Some of the shots he made was absolutely ridiculous,” Nuggets interim coach David Adelman said.

“These big moments, these situations, he was born for this,” Adelman said. “Special night for Jamal.”

It capped a 43-point night for Murray, his first 40-point playoff performance since Denver’s 2023 championship run. He made 17 of 26 shots from the field and went 8 for 14 on 3-pointers. The only free throw he took, and made, was the result of a transition take foul in the fourth quarter.

“Shots are going to miss; they’re going to make,” Murray said. “I’m still going to play my game, still going to be aggressive, still going to shoot the shots that I shoot. It was a big team win.”

Clippers guard Kris Dunn, one of the NBA’s better perimeter defenders, has spent most of his time following Murray around the court to mixed results. Murray needed 20 shots to score 21 points in Denver’s overtime win in Game 1. He followed with consecutive 23-point performances before scoring 13 points on 17 shots in Game 4. Dunn and Murray go back to the 2016 draft. Dunn was selected fifth overall by the Timberwolves, two picks before the Nuggets selected Murray. He admitted that still serves as motivation.

“we’ve been competing ever since. It’s always fun going against him, and it’s always a battle to go against him, to be honest,” Murray said.

“I just have fun with those matchups. They challenge me, and I challenge them. That’s what the playoffs are for.”

Adelman credited the screens Nikola Jokic, DeAndre Jordan, Russell Westbrook and whoever else was being guarded by Ivica Zubac for freeing Murray up, but the 28-year-old did so much more than score. He added seven assists, five rebounds, three assists and a steal in 40 minutes of playing time. The Nuggets won his minutes by 17 points.

The production was especially important on a night Jokic wasn’t his typical self in a scoring sense. Jokic managed a triple-double with 13 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds but scored just two points after halftime and made 4 of 13 shots.

Aaron Gordon (23), Westbrook (21), Michael Porter Jr. (14) and Christian Braun (11) gave Denver six double-figures scorers. Braun added 12 rebounds, four of which came on the offensive glass, and was the primary defender on James Harden, who finished with 11 points on nine shots.

Zubac led the Clippers with 27 points. Kawhi Leonard added 20 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds.

The first bucket of Murray’s night was a driving dunk in the first two minutes. Then, he hit his first two 3s to finish the first quarter with 10 points.

“The tough start (for us) was Jamal Murray. I thought he came out being aggressive, which we knew he would. That’s why we started off with the blitz against him, just to try and slow him down,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said. “We knew in Game 5 he would come out aggressive and he made every shot. Pull-up threes, mid-range, we did everything. We blitzed him, we dropped, we switched, we did a lot of different coverages, but he had a hell of a game.”

Murray scored nine more in the second, 11 in the third and put the Nuggets one win away from advancing with 13 more in the fourth.

Afterward, Murray acknowledged he “almost” let an arrow fly late in Tuesday’s win. Maybe he’s saving his arrows for a kill shot at Intuit Dome.

“When it’s flowing like that, it’s the guy that’s won us so many playoff games in the past. When he’s complementary with Nikola, it’s great, but it sure is nice to have these nights where it’s his show,” Adelman said.

“We needed it tonight in a big game.”

NUGGETS 131, CLIPPERS 115

What happened: Denver led by 12 after the first quarter and maintained a 67-59 advantage at halftime. The Nuggets extended the lead to 16 by the start of the fourth quarter and held on to take a 3-2 series lead.

What went right: The Nuggets outscored the Clippers by 18 points from 3-point range. Denver went 17 for 33, while Los Angeles finished 11 for 29.

What went wrong: The Clippers owned the advantage inside. Los Angeles scored 62 points in the paint to Denver’s 46. Denver’s struggles inside were most noticeable when Ivica Zubac was in the game and Nikola Jokic was not.

Highlight of the night: Russell Westbrook scored 16 points in the first half, but his most impressive play was a pass to Michael Porter Jr. for a one-handed dunk. After catching the ball on the left wing, Westbrook needled a pass through traffic to Porter on the opposite block for a dunk that put Denver up nine with 5 minutes left in the second quarter.

Up next: The series returns to Intuit Dome for Thursday’s Game 6.