Jamal Murray on Saturday kept imploring the crowd to get louder and louder with each trip down the floor, as if the Denver Nuggets point guard even needed to. He was already rocking the arena.
Murray scored 34 points, hitting six of Denver’s 16 three-pointers, and the Nuggets sprinted past the Phoenix Suns 125-107 in Game 1 of their second-round series.
“He’s a bad man,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said.
Photo: AFP
“Thanks?” Murray said when told of the reaction. “Appreciate it... I’m just playing my game... I’m doing whatever it takes to win.”
The players are out to show the league what they already know. They are talented and worthy of their top seed in the Western Conference, and do not mind if the Suns, as the fourth seed, are the trendy pick to beat them.
“We’re going to keep doing what we’re doing, keep proving everybody wrong,” Murray said.
Reigning back-to-back NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) Nikola Jokic had 24 points and 19 rebounds, while Aaron Gordon finished with 23 points.
However, this was the Murray Show, in which he went six of 10 from three-point land and frequently exhorted for more noise from the already raucous crowd.
“Let’s be honest, some of the shots he hit tonight I don’t think anybody could have stopped him,” Suns coach Monty Williams said.
Kevin Durant scored 29 points and grabbed 14 boards for the Suns, with Devin Booker adding 27 points and Chris Paul 11. Booker averaged 37.2 points in a first-round series win over the Los Angeles Clippers.
“I thought that they were just more physical, played with more force,” Williams said. “We’ve got to regroup and do a much better job of playing with pace on offense.”
Game 2 is today in Denver.
This is a different sort of playoff series than two years ago, when the Suns swept the Nuggets in the second round. Back then, Denver was without Murray after he tore his ACL.
Now healthy, Murray is flashing his 2020 form inside the NBA bubble that helped Denver advance to the Western Conference finals.
“Jamal just continues to add to the legend of playoff Jamal,” Malone said.
Murray had the play of the night when he stole a pass, split defenders Paul and Durant at top speed and knocked in a layup high off the glass. It brought the capacity crowd to its feet.
The dynamic point guard was far from done energizing the fans, hitting a three-pointer with just under seven minutes remaining. He implored them for more noise, even holding a hand to his ear.
Durant cut off a question about whether he was surprised by the Nuggets.
“They’re the No. 1 seed for a reason. They got a two-time MVP. They’ve got a deep team. I’m not surprised,” Durant said. “We’ve got our work cut out for us.”
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