Up until the bubble, the Denver Nuggets had one superstar — a term we shouldn’t throw around lightly — in Nikola Jokic and a terrific supporting cast that included Jamal Murray, who was the No. 2 option, but had never quite broken through ever since the Nuggets took him seventh overall in the 2016 draft out of Kentucky.
It was clear that if the Nuggets wanted to get to the next level in the postseason, however, they’d need a second superstar. Instead of dealing their prodigious depth for one, the front office kept together a young squad that had made a Western Conference semifinals run last season and waited to see what would happen.
The result? Murray has ascended in the bubble. It’s time to anoint him a superstar, something his coach Mike Malone did after the Nuggets defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 114-106 in Game 3 of the Western Conference finals. From USA TODAY Sports:
“I know every night what I’m getting from Jamal,” Malone said. “Last year we knew what we were getting from Nikola, but what kind of game would Jamal have? That’s no longer the case. We have two superstars in Nikola and Jamal and a lot of young, talented players behind them.”
You can see it when it comes to crunch time. Both Jokic and Murray are facilitators, and in years past, it felt like neither of them wanted to fully take over like a superstar can and should. So when the Lakers fought back from a Nuggets lead that was as much as 20 in the fourth quarter, Murray did what he’s done this entire postseason: he calmly took over.
This highlight reel is gorgeous — he’s creative on drives, has an underrated mid-range game he can go to, and his shooting from deep is OFF THE CHARTS at 47.7 percent from three in the postseason. Look at this range:
I see confidence all over the place. The Nuggets have had no fear being down 3-1 in the postseason in part because of that confidence, and now, facing two of the NBA’s best in LeBron James and Anthony Davis, this young Denver team isn’t intimidated.
That’s because their newest superstar has made the leap.
