DENVER — For one half, Jamal Murray was tentative. He missed shots against a swarming Los Angeles Clippers defense that he normally makes. He allowed Clippers guard Kris Dunn to get into his personal space defensively. There were several frustrating moments in the first two quarters. On the bench, like a trainer hyping up a boxer, Murray’s Denver Nuggets teammates continuously affirmed him, telling him to keep his head up, assuring him that good things would eventually start to happen.
For one half and an overtime, Jamal Murray was aggressive. He figured out Dunn’s defense and began to beat him off the dribble. He made several gargantuan shots, particularly in the fourth quarter when Denver seemingly hung on to a first-round Game 1 matchup by a thread. He began to negotiate pick-and-rolls with Nikola Jokić like a maestro. His teammates, namely veteran center DeAndre Jordan, began nodding accordingly.
This was the Jamal Murray the Denver Nuggets needed.
In a 112-110 overtime win over the Clippers, a thrilling victory before a packed house at Ball Arena, the two sides of Jamal Murray encapsulated the two sides of the Denver Nuggets. One side is the competitive group led by the brilliant Jokić; but even as the best player in the world, he’ll need help if the Nuggets are to win this series, and everyone knows it. The other side, where Murray puts it all together? The Nuggets are a positively dynamic offense and a team capable of making a deep playoff run.
That is what’s most intriguing about this Denver team. Jokić is the reigning Most Valuable Player in the NBA. At the tender age of 30, he’s already one of the greats. But it’s Murray who holds the key to the Nuggets’ fortunes, in many respects. On social media, it’s become fun for people to point out that Jokić has never played with an all-star. And while that technically may be true, the sentiment is disingenuous because Murray has long been one of the best playoff risers in the league, a guy who gets better in the postseason. When Murray is cooking in the playoffs, he plays at an all-star level.
ANOTHA ONE FOR MAL 👌 pic.twitter.com/xCxslutdB1
— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) April 19, 2025
“The worse things get on the floor, the better Jamal gets,” Denver interim head coach David Adelman said. “He figured it out in the second half. He didn’t shoot the ball well, but the shots he made were so huge and so big. He made the shot to tie the game up late. He and Nikola worked that side pick and roll, and that play was really good for us. What Jamal and Nikola were able to do in that physical a game was just incredible.”
There are games where Murray wows because he is an incredible shotmaker. The more difficult the looks, the more shots he seemingly makes. Those are the nights when the game comes easily for him. Saturday afternoon was arguably more impressive because his performance in the second half and overtime took resilience. Dunn is one of the best point-of-attack defending guards in the NBA, and his quickness, long arms and surly personality on the floor gave Murray issues. For a half, Murray looked out of sorts and frustrated.
To make things more difficult, Clippers center Ivica Zubac was a formidable presence defensively at the rim. When Murray got into the lane, he couldn’t finish at the basket like he normally does. His ability to stick through it and figure out a way to impact the game in the second half became the impetus of a Denver rally after it looked like Los Angeles would steal Game 1 on the road.
What Murray did in the second half was increase his aggression off the dribble. He began to force the action and get into the paint. He would end up scoring 21 points and handing out seven assists. He shot just 7-of-20 from the field, but his plus-12 net rating for the game wasn’t a mistake. Murray, in the second half and overtime, consistently bent the Clippers’ defense by getting into the lane. Even if Murray wasn’t the one who scored, his ability to penetrate off the dribble created the easy and uncontested looks that weren’t available in the first half.
“I’m glad I was able to get going at some point,” Murray said. “I felt like I could have played a lot better throughout the game, but I was honestly trying to settle down and make some positive plays.”
What the Nuggets want and need is the Murray who showed up in the 2023 playoffs and outdueled several of the brightest stars in basketball to help Denver win a title. That version of Murray raises Denver’s ceiling significantly, because it’s already close to impossible to deal with Jokić. Guarding Jokić takes an opponent committing multiple defenders to stop his initial foray to the rim and then recovering to the shooters on the perimeter, because Jokić is such a great passer.
Even as the best player in the world, Nikola Jokić needs help if the Nuggets are to win this series. (Ron Chenoy / Imagn Images)
Few teams are equipped to do that. If you add a Murray, who can create at the point of attack, defenses are often spread too thin to adequately guard both. The issue is that Murray is often mercurial, and he is often injured. That is partially what derailed the Nuggets in last year’s postseason against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Nuggets know they need to keep him healthy, and they know they need to put him in situations where he can be successful. A turning point on Saturday was Murray catching his rhythm while playing with the second unit. With Jokić taking a few minutes to rest, the floor was a bit more open for Murray to freelance and make plays. Once he started to see the ball go in, that was all he needed.
“Jamal is one of the guys that we never worry about,” Denver forward Peyton Watson said. “He’s one of our leaders, and he’s a guy that we have an unlimited amount of confidence in. We know that he is eventually going to come around, so we just encourage him to keep shooting and to keep being aggressive, and we know that he is going to eventually get good results. He did that today, and he showed who he is.”
(Top photo: Ron Chenoy / Imagn Images)