Jamal Murray has a flair for the dramatic. Game 3 wasn’t the most impressive statistical playoff performance of his career, but in the context of Friday’s clash—with his team backed deep into a corner, coming off a humiliating Game 2 that included a $100K fine for a tossed heat pack, and seemingly limited by a calf strain—it has potential to go down as one of the most memorable.
In 38 minutes, Murray was the precise spark the Denver Nuggets needed to look like their defending champion selves again. He finished with 24 points, five assists, and four rebounds, and hit two 3s to fuel a 117-90 romp in Game 3 and cut their second-round deficit to 2-1.
In vintage Murray fashion, several of his baskets were highlight reels unleashed in a timely manner, either to stop a Timberwolves run or save a mucky Nuggets possession. He drilled backbreaking stepbacks over suffocating defense that barely dial back its intensity even as the referee’s whistle suggested they should. He repeatedly found Nikola Jokic in the short roll, feeding the three-time MVP in his sweet spot for floaters and lobs. Murray didn’t just withstand full-court pressure, he beat it back, charging toward the rim whenever an opening presented itself.
“It’s fun. I embrace that challenge. I embrace that moment,” Murray said after the game. “I probably deserved the boos so I’m not shying away from it, but it was a lot of fun to go out there and embrace the challenge and have that kind of game for my teammates.”
Jokic is the best player on the planet. But he can’t win another title without Murray thriving as a stone-cold shot-maker who puts pressure on the defense at all three levels. On Friday night, Murray finished 4-for-6 in the restricted area and 5-for-7 from the midrange. The former was meaningful as a tone-setter. Denver had several ball handlers bring the ball up the court Friday to ease pressure off Murray, an approach Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch said he expected and planned for after the game. It didn’t matter. Murray was confident enough to attack off-script. Here he is coming out of a timeout, bringing the fight to Nickeil Alexander-Walker all the way to the basket:
That aggression was key, early and often in Game 3. Murray’s first bucket of the game was a straight line-drive layup, blowing by Anthony Edwards with his left hand, meeting Rudy Gobert at the rim, and then finishing with his right. “Point-of-attack defense was not where it needed to be,” Finch said. “And that’s where it starts and ends for us.”
Murray’s final assist of the night gave the Nuggets a 30-point lead, knifing into the paint off a dribble handoff to find Michael Porter Jr. wide open in the corner for his fourth 3 of the game:
“Less thinking, more attacking, more aggression, and Jamal definitely set the tone with that and he feeds off that,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “He’s a guy that plays with a ton of emotion. And I think actually that’s when he plays at his best.”
Coming into Game 3, Murray was a mess, scoring just 25 points combined in Games 1 and 2 while shooting 28.1 percent from the field. He has been one of the worst pull-up 2-point shooters in the playoffs, too, making only 36.2 percent of those tries after nailing over half of them during last year’s title run, and 46.4 percent in the regular season. But whether it was Jaden McDaniels (who battled foul trouble the whole night) or a Wolves big like Naz Reid or Karl-Anthony Towns in a switch, Murray got to his spots and made impossible jumpers look routine Friday:
“This was probably the best game I felt going into the game,” Murray said when asked about his calf, which tightened up again in the fourth quarter. “But it’s good. At this point in the season, everybody’s dealing with something, so I’m just glad that I’m good enough to be out there and do my job at a high level.”
Not to suggest Murray’s body is 100 percent, but going forward it’ll be hard to excuse poor, inefficient play after a night like this. On one late play, Murray picked Edwards from behind and took it coast-to-coast for a dunk. He was able to turn the corner, create separation, plant his feet, and change direction. He was crafty around the basket. He didn’t settle. It was vintage Murray. And the effect vintage Murray had on Denver’s disposition was clear. An offense that had no rhythm in Game 2 grew surgical 72 hours later.
The Nuggets didn’t commit a turnover until 18 minutes of the game had lapsed, an amazing display of poise after Game 2’s unraveling. Winning this series will require that type of discipline against one of the stingier defenses the NBA has seen in years. A lot of that was thanks to Murray, whose two-man game with Jokic finally started to shine again. In spots through most of the game, he was able to create separation off a ball screen, draw help, hit Jokic, and then watch his superstar teammate punish a rotating defense:
He had more space, too. A couple early 3s from Justin Holiday means Alexander-Walker can’t be in the paint to meet Jokic on this roll, while Towns is doing his best to help without ignoring Aaron Gordon in the dunker spot:
“I think we did a good job screening, just playing for each other, you know?” Murray said. “Not fighting anything. We’re not rushing anything … just being more physical and owning our spots.”
When the Wolves helped off Murray, he did what he absolutely must do and made them pay. Here he is one pass away from a Jokic post-up. When the ball is kicked back out to him, he drives past Edwards and jukes by Reid with a hesitation dribble on his way to another baseline fadeaway. Plays like this one show how Murray turned an ostensible sweep into a competitive series:
The Timberwolves are primed to bounce back in Game 4, coming off a poor shooting performance, at home, knowing how devastating it would be to fly back to Colorado for Game 5 in a tied series. But if Murray plays like this again—under control, lethal, pouring one “tip-your-cap” shot after another while still setting teammates up for open looks—that may be the exact situation Minnesota finds itself in.