After signing a max contract in the offseason, Jamal Murray has enjoyed a rocky start to the Denver Nuggets’ 2024-2025 NBA season. The 2023 NBA champions were counting on Murray being a worthy running mate to reigning MVP Nikola Jokic in the prime of his championship-winning window.
For roughly two months, that had not been the case.
Some of Murray’s struggles have been related to his health — he recently revealed he was dealing with plantar fasciitis earlier this season. Some of them have likely been connected to a lack of confidence, which, duh. It had been a while since we’d seen a genuinely electric Murray, a.k.a. the same player who averaged 26.7 points, 7.1 assists, and 5.7 rebounds on 47-40-92 shooting splits en route to Denver’s first championship in 2023. It wouldn’t be a shock to learn some of Murray’s recent issues were getting to his head.
On Monday, with the Nuggets on the verge of a heartbreaking road loss to the Sacramento Kings, a resurgent Murray finally rescued his team in the clutch.
In the fourth quarter, after the Nuggets had blown an early 23-point lead, Murray had ice in his veins. He scored 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting (3-of-3 from 3-point land) and was a +14 in the final stanza. And while running Denver’s patented two-man game with Jokic — the same deadly two-man game that brought the franchise its 2023 championship — Murray delivered an ice-cold game-winning shot to cap a chaotic finish:
BLOW FOR BLOW IN SACRAMENTO…
Jamal Murray puts DEN back up 1 with 8 seconds left!
t.co/YfVCVQAELv pic.twitter.com/zTuiKIrGY7
— NBA (@NBA) December 17, 2024
Murray playing like this when the other Nuggets didn’t have it going in a tough road environment speaks volumes. It’s the best sign yet that Denver’s ambitions of a second title in three NBA seasons are still extremely alive. If Murray plays like this as a worthy foil to Jokic, the Nuggets will be more than capable of beating any other NBA title heavyweight. His individual success is that important to them.
Currently, the Nuggets have the sixth-best odds at +1400 to win this year’s NBA title over with oddsmakers at BetMGM. If you ask me, that’s excellent value for a team that employs the three-time MVP and best player in the NBA and a Murray who can still finish like he did against the Kings:
At the time of this writing, the Nuggets are now 14-10, the same record they had during their 2023 championship season. Back then, a struggling Jamal Murray hit a game-winning shot on the road in Portland for a Nuggets team that was about to ascend to elite title contender status. It was a seminal turning-point moment for that iteration of Denver. It was when those Nuggets started to really believe and realize the greatness they were capable of.
Two years later, don’t be surprised to see a similar thing happen for the Nuggets and a struggling Jamal Murray, who hit a game-winning shot on the road in Sacramento.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Jamal Murray finally rescuing the Nuggets in the clutch is a great sign for their title hopes )
Also on site :
- Donald Trump helped ancient Russians defeat space lizards. Western elites don’t want you to know
- Shocking Photos of Cher's Son, 48, Spark Concern
- First address: Pope Leo XIV calls for global peace