DENVER – After ending a streak for the Denver Nuggets and one season for the Los Angeles Lakers, Jamal Murray confronted head coach Michael Malone and delivered perhaps the understatement of the year.
He hit another game-winning shot for the Nuggets, his second in the first round. He did so with a strained left calf that limited him in debilitating fashion Monday night at Bale Arena.
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Jamal Murray’s teammates knew he was going to make the game-winning shot in Game 2.
But when Murray was in the right mood, his abundant humor was as good as ever.
“Good thing you played me tonight, coach,” Murray told Malone. If I didn’t play tonight, I don’t know if we would have won.
Jamal Murray has yet to become an NBA superstar in his career. He never made the All-NBA team. And yet, how many men are taking over in the game? That’s what you call a rhetorical question because the answer is universally: not many.
Murray posted a 50-point streak in the postseason. His playoff run last spring helped the Nuggets win their first title in franchise history. Regardless of his regular season performance, Murray established himself as one of the all-time playoff winners in basketball history. And in no way should the previous sentence be an argumentative statement.
He added to the story on Monday night. When Murray dunked twice to his left and got back on one leg to shake Lakers guard Austin Reaves, we all knew what was going to happen. The 15-footer was clean. It was a 108-106 win for Denver at the Ball Arena. He was able to win the series 4-1. It gives Denver a much-needed break ahead of what promises to be a brutal series against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
“We were all really beat up,” Malone said. We didn’t know who we were going to get to finish this game.
In Los Angeles’ Game 3 win, backup point guard Reggie Jackson sprained his ankle, an injury to his crutch and defensive boot, during an off day at the Santa Monica Hotel in Denver. Starting shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope sprained his ankle in the first half of Monday night’s Game 5 and left the game twice the rest of the first half. He came back in the second half to score and make several big shots.
Murray sprained his calf in the second half of Game 4 in Denver’s lone loss. He started Monday as questionable to play. So Murray entered the ballpark earlier than normal to get treatment, stretch and loosen his calf, and decide if he would be able to play. Calves are inherently difficult and dangerous. They are soft tissue injuries that heal slowly. More importantly, they lead to serious ailments such as Achilles injuries.
In the last playoff series of the 2019 NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Toronto Raptors, then-Warriors forward Kevin Durant returned from a calf strain and ruptured Achilles. In the year In 2021, part way through a second-round series between the Utah Jazz and the Los Angeles Clippers, then-Jazz point guard Mike Conley strained his calf. This postseason, the Milwaukee Bucks are without Giannis Antetokounmpo in their first-round matchup against the Indiana Pacers because of a strained calf suffered at the end of the regular season.
These examples serve to explain why the Nuggets themselves didn’t want Murray to play Monday night. On the surface, the logic was sound. Leading 3-1 going into Game 5, if Denver beats the Lakers without Murray, the point guard will have seven days to recover. If not? The hope then is that Murray will be ready to go in Thursday night’s Game 6 in Los Angeles.
“I came in a little early to get treatment, and I felt like I could play,” Murray said. “They told me no. I didn’t say no. I didn’t want to leave my teammates there. I didn’t want to let them dry out. “I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t do everything I could to get on the floor tonight.”
Monday night wasn’t Murray’s first game against Denver Tip this season. Near the end of the regular season, the Nuggets wanted to sit Murray against the Utah Jazz to prevent Murray’s sore left knee. The Utah game was the front end of a back-to-back, road game, with the Nuggets then taking on the Timberwolves back at the Ball Arena the next night. On the team flight to Salt Lake City, Murray approached Malone and begged him to play. He did just that and turned in a big fourth quarter performance to propel the Nuggets over the Jazz and the next night’s win over Minnesota.
Murray is honest and raw. He is affectionate and will let you know exactly what he thinks. Malone is ideal for him because he is open to honest and sometimes brutal and emotional dialogue. This was the key on Monday night. Of course, the worry was that Murray would play in Game 5 and injure his calf, something the Nuggets didn’t want. But Murray couldn’t sit out the playoffs, not even if it helped. So he and Malone had that talk. And then Murray and Malone and the coaching staff had that talk. They made a plan, and Murray agreed and got ready to play.
“I knew he was going to play, to be honest,” Denver star Nikola Jokic said. “I know without talking to him that he wants to play and he wants to be in big games. “Even if you don’t shoot your best, it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.”
Murray was 13 of 28 from the field Monday night, making five of 10 3-point attempts. He scored a game-high 32 points, including Gargan’s layup off the game-winner. He dunked on LeBron James, who was impressive in his own right. In the last five minutes, he cut through the defense at will.
It was nowhere near a hundred percent.
From the opening possessions, it was clear that Murray would not be able to explode off the dribble the way he wanted. It was clear that he didn’t have his usual first step. The Nuggets wanted to limit his minutes as much as possible, but he ended up playing 40 on Monday night. Ironically, that may be a good thing for Murray because playing gets the calf warm and loose, and as the game progresses, Murray plays and hits the ball better.
“I was moving pretty well to play,” Murray said. “But jumping was the biggest thing for me. That was a tough challenge, leaving the ground, and on my jump shot. So before I hit the ball, I went into a deeper meeting because I wanted to put as little stress on my calf as possible.
As of Monday night, Malone addressed the question facing the Nuggets. Did Murray want to sit down? Or are they stuck trying to put their chips in the middle of the table and end the series against the Lakers? It was a collaborative conversation, but in the end, the Nuggets settled for last. The reward is that he won in Game 5, nearly a week off and Murray didn’t injure himself further.
And now, the Nuggets and Wolves have reached the series that many have been waiting for.
“In the big moment, the big Jamal Murray shines,” Malone said. He is one serious cookie.
(Photo: David Zalubowski/Associated Press)