After nearly three years of tiring wait, Jamal Murray has finally felt and enjoyed the grinding pressure and the beauty of intensifying playoff competition with the Denver Nuggets.
As such, in the club’s 2023 first-round playoff series opener against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday, the star guard authored an emphatic statement on why he remains familiar on the postseason playground amid two-straight seasons of disappearance.
Courtesy of his game-high 24 points, Jamal Murray powered the Nuggets en route to a 109-80 first-blood series win against the Timberwolves. He shot 9-for-22 to conclude the evening, grabbed eight boards, and dished out eight assists amid the sluggish start.
The entire Ball Arena serenaded their main man in the backcourt all game long, as he burst with such speed and hit multiple daggers to help Denver be at front by a wide margin starting in the late first half.
Right at his postgame presser, Murray admitted that he was thrilled to be back in the playoffs, with energy flowing through his body out of anticipation.
“Very excited. I had a bunch of adrenaline running. I haven’t felt that excitement in a minute, probably since the beginning of the season so I got tired quick,” Murray said. “Got the jitters out the way. The team told me to ‘Keep playing, keep shooting,’ I was diving over the floor just trying to work myself in the game.
“It turned out to be a decent game.”
The weekend game marks the first time ever that Murray finally made his return to the playoff arena. His last postseason appearance prior to the Sunday showcase was in the NBA Bubble back in 2020, wherein his stardom ascended.
Dubbed then as the “Bubble Murray”, the Canadian guard amused the entire league with his high-scoring performances and clutch plays, helping to propel the Nuggets for a deep postseason run which saw a Conference Finals finish for the franchise for the first time since 2009. In 19 playoff games, Murray averaged 26.5 points, and 6.6 assists and shot a highly efficient 50.5 percent from the field (45.3% from three).
He notably became unconscious in the Nuggets’ first-round series against the Utah Jazz, going nuclear upon feasting for three consecutive playoff games with at least 40 points to help his team keep surviving in front of a 3-1 edge. He also emerged as an integral component in upsetting the L.A. Clippers the following round, overcoming the same series deficit in a marvelous and historic fashion.
After enduring 1 ½ seasons of patience and recovery process from an ACL tear, head coach Michael Malone couldn’t be more ecstatic that his top gunner in Murray is back at his side to finally continue that quest for the team’s first title.
“Congratulations to Jamal for being back. That’s two postseasons that he did not play. It seems like eons ago when we were in the bubble and he was doing his thing, so that’s number one for me,” Malone said of Murray’s return to the playoffs this year.
“I’m just so thankful that he’s back. … I’m proud of Jamal being back and I just think as he gets deeper and deeper into the playoffs, he’s only going to get better and better.”
Murray and the Nuggets will look to defend their homecourt early this series against the Wolves as Game 2 is scheduled on Wednesday.
