(Denver) In Denver, there are not one, but two nuggets to guide the Nuggets to a possible first NBA title, both Jamal Murray, the perfect complement to the essential Nikola Jokic, excels, returned even stronger, two years later a serious knee injury.
Wednesday, during the victory (109-94) obtained in Miami, the Canadian rear entered the history of the league with the Serbian pivot, by becoming the first duo to succeed, not only each a triple double in a match of a final, but also by decorating it with at least 30 points scored, something never seen before, whether in the regular season or in the playoffs.
When you look at Jokic’s stratospheric performances, there seem to be very few places left in the sun for his teammates. Yet Murray, already irresistible with his 32.5 point average to sweep the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals, is much more than a lieutenant, in the eyes of the most valuable double player: “He plays phenomenally. He’s a real leader, the energy he shows is incredible and we just follow him.”
The 26-year-old’s 34-point, 10-assist, 10-rebound streak to help the Nuggets lead 2-1 in the series against the Heat was also an immediate response to his performance on the inside during the the defeat conceded three days earlier in Colorado.
“I’m really proud of Jamal because I’ve seen in the last 48 hours how much he took that setback for himself,” his coach Michael Malone said.
And to add: “It was not only him who was responsible, it was me and all of us. But that’s what champions do. That’s what warriors do: they fight back. Let’s forget the stats for a second. I felt his energy, and he was there fully living the moment. Jamal is a guy who thrives and excels on big occasions. Nothing scares him. »
In seven years, the coach has gotten to know his player well, arriving in Denver a year after him and Jokic, in 2016 just after being drafted in 7th position. He watched him grow, nurtured him, berated him—”you underestimate yourself if you think you’re just a pitcher”—also comforted him when his career took a turn for the worse. caused by a rupture of the cruciate ligaments in the spring of 2021.
Murray, whose talent burst into the open the previous summer, in Orlando’s anti-COVID-19 bubble where the Nuggets managed to beat the odds in the playoffs, eliminating Utah and the Clippers after they were trailing 3-1 , before falling to the Lakers of future champion LeBron James, had to wait 555 days to become a basketball player again.
“I remember being on the bus with him that night. He had tears in his eyes, I hugged him and said, ‘My, man, we’re with you, we love you, we’re going to help you. And not only are you going to get through this, but you’re going to come back stronger,” Malone recently shared.
It didn’t take much for Murray, fearing that the Nuggets would trade him with another player, recovered from this hard blow and showed a steely mind, inherited from his hard training under the cup of his father Roger Murray, who was the first to see in him the seed of a champion.
At the age of 7, Jamal had to make 30 consecutive free throws before he could stop. The winters were long and harsh in Kitchener, where he was born, in Ontario, and the sessions even longer, made up of push-ups in the snow, running backwards or in sidesteps on uphill terrain, dribbling on patches of ice, shots with the left hand to force ambidexterity…
“We impose limits on ourselves as human beings, physically and mentally. But why not do more? “, justified in 2016 Murray, whose other components of his training are both kung fu and meditation. And this every day that brings him closer to a possible first coronation, so coveted.