Jamal Murray had tears in his eyes when asked about his journey to becoming NBA champion after missing an entire season due to a devastating injury.
The Nuggets point guard was asked about the emotional moment during the press conference after Game 5 of the NBA Finals.
“It was really hard to put into words. Still is,” Murray said postgame. “I couldn’t even hold it in. I don’t know, I couldn’t really hold it in. It was just a surreal moment and everything was hitting.
“Everything was hitting at once from the journey to the celebration with the guys to enjoying the moment, to looking back on the rehab, to looking back as myself as a kid, as the other viewer looking from the crowd in or from the camera lens in and now if you’re looking back at them. It was a lot. I couldn’t hold it in.
“It was just something I’ve been working for my whole life. I think Mike Porter said it – this is everybody, every real hooper wants to be on the stage and playing the game and be in this moment. To see it full circle going from our rehab, not being able to walk, to go up the stairs not just for a month or two. It was for a long time. Lot of different things going through my head, a lot of blood, sweat and tears and real ones.
“Like I said, just to see it full circle and have total belief in myself, have the team have total belief in me, people back home had total belief in me. That’s all I could ever ask for. And just to see it like this is amazing.”
