The NBA playoffs continued, and the Nuggets continued to host the Lakers today, where they narrowly defeated the Lakers 101-99 and won the game in the final minute through a mid-range strike from Jamal Murray.
Although Murray was sluggish in the first three quarters of this game, he became the hero of the Nuggets' win in the final moments, and he scored eight points in the last three minutes to help the Nuggets win. He also proved to everyone how strong he is in the playoffs with this game.
During the long regular season, Murray was very low-key. So you'll find that Murray didn't make it to the All-Star in his career, and he didn't win particularly good awards in the regular season. But it's the kind of player who was unknown in the regular season, and once he enters the playoffs, he has a very good performance. There is a statistic in the league, and that is that Murray has the league's highest average points per game increase since entering the playoffs. It also means that Murray looks like he's putting more emphasis on playoff games.
After today's game, Malone also talked about Murray's performance, and he admitted that this is Murray in the playoffs, and the data is the evidence. He even bluntly said that many All-Star players can't compare to him in the playoffs.
In fact, what Ma Long said in this sentence is true. In the regular season, there are a lot of All-Star players who don't perform as well as they should once they make the playoffs. For example, Haliburton, who was selected as an All-Star starter in the East this year, has been very sluggish since he came to the playoffs. Some players have mediocre stats in the regular season, but this is not his true level, and being able to play well in key games and playoff games full of confrontation can really reflect a player's true level.
How important is Murray to this Nuggets team? Actually, we've got the answer through previous seasons, Jokic has also played very well in previous seasons, but the Nuggets didn't succeed in the season when Jamal Murray was injured. This proves that Jokic is also unable to complete the championship without Murray, and the two of them complement each other, which is equivalent to O'Neal and Kobe Bryant in their prime.
Murray is undoubtedly a superstar. If the Nuggets can win the championship, Murray's all-time ranking will be further improved, and he and Jokic will form a super inside and outside combination in the league, just like the previous OK combination. If the Nuggets can win more championships in the future, the duo will be able to make their name in history.