Meditation fueled 23-point fourth quarter

For three quarters Thursday night, Jamal Murray was pedestrian.

He short-armed shots he normally buries and bypassed teammates with better looks.

For three quarters, the Lakers’ clever wrinkle — deploying length with Jarred Vanderbilt or LeBron James on him — appeared to work.

When the Lakers double-teamed Nikola Jokic, Murray wasn’t making them pay like the Nuggets needed. But by the fourth quarter of Game 2, having mentally reset, Murray turned into a flamethrower.

He saved 23 of his 37 points for the fourth quarter to forge a 2-0 lead in this Western Conference Finals and protect Denver’s homecourt advantage yet again. The Nuggets improved to 8-0 in Ball Arena with their 108-103 win, looking and acting like the No. 1 seed they earned throughout a dominant regular…