It was early Sunday morning before Jamal Murray walked through the Nuggets locker room, his exit delayed after reliving the jumper that might’ve given Denver Game 1.
While his teammates showered and addressed the media after their grueling Game 1 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday, Murray was up on the second floor of the Pepsi Center, painstakingly reenacting his 8-of-24 shooting night. His dad, Roger Murray, was there with him, presumably rebounding and offering comfort.
“I took some shots on every shot I missed, especially that one I missed, the open one at the end of the game,” said Murray after the Nuggets fell 101-96. “I was just shooting. I was frustrated.”
Murray’s clean elbow jumper would’ve given the Nuggets a 98-97 lead with 13 seconds left. Instead it hit back iron.
“A shot that he’s made 1000 times, and he’ll make it again,” said Nuggets coach Michael Malone.
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The in-game version came following a timeout and was born out of Denver’s bread-and-butter pick-and-roll with Nikola Jokic. It’s a shot the Nuggets would take every time. Especially in this series, with a plodding LaMarcus Aldridge forced to retreat after Murray rolls right around the screen, it was the right look.
“He was wide open, I think it’s a great shot for us,” said Jokic, who finished with a triple-double in his playoff debut. “He didn’t make it. I’m good with that. At least he was wide open. It was uncontested. We’re good. We’re going to live with that.”
Murray took 8 shots in the final quarter alone, including 7 over the final 3:06 of the game. Aside from a baseline jumper, his only other points came off sheer determination. Spurs forward Rudy Gay had corralled a missed Murray floater and had earned clear possession of the ball, both hands gripping it in his gut. That was before Murray surprised Gay, ripped the ball clean, laid in a reverse layup and got fouled. It was one of six steals he had on the night. The three-point swing cut the deficit to 95-92.
Denver trimmed it to 97-96 on the aforementioned jumper but could never regain the lead.
That didn’t stop Murray from trying. He caught the same 3-point shooting bug that plagued the rest of the team and missed all six of his shots from beyond the arc.
The 22-year-old is uncommonly poised in tense situations and confident regardless of any prior struggles. He’s also famously stubborn, a result of the rigorous shooting drills his dad put him through as a child. While growing up, Roger also preached mental toughness to Jamal, a principle he learned from studying famed martial artist Bruce Lee. All of that is baked into the composition of Murray, who posted career-highs across the board in his second full season running the Nuggets offense.
“My dad is my No. 1 critic, and the hardest coach I’ve had,” Murray said on Friday, one day before his playoff debut. “That’s all out of love. … I always tell (Malone) to be harder on me. I can take it.”
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That tough love has harbored confidence between coach and player. It wasn’t surprising to see the play called for Murray, especially since Jokic had passed on plenty of good looks throughout the game.
“Yeah, I think he was fearless,” said Paul Millsap. “I know he’s hard on himself. It’s his first playoff game. That’s what you want to see though. You want to see that type of emotion. There’s not too many 22-year-olds that’s gonna embrace that moment like that.”
That’s why, even as his shooting drills took him well into the night, it wasn’t hard to imagine a scenario where Murray responds with a big game on Tuesday.
“I’ll bounce back,” he said calmly. “My teammates have confidence in my. Coach has confidence in me. It’s up to me now.”
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