Guard finally pain-free
The pain began as soon as Jamal Murray moved to get out of bed.
It persisted during light pregame stretches. It reached a level Murray “couldn’t explain” when he’d slide laterally on defense or barrel through traffic for a layup.
But Murray kept playing through the discomfort, because that’s the only approach he’s ever known. Two sports hernias did not stop the Nuggets guard from suiting up for all 82 games as a 19year-old rookie, during which he showed flashes of his sweet stroke and versatility that made him a 2016 lottery pick.
“He didn’t say a word,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said, “which kind of speaks to his mental toughness.”
Following offseason surgery, Murray is likely to be Denver’s starting point guard for Wednesday’s season opener at the Utah Jazz. He’s expected to be a crucial piece of an up-and-coming Nuggets team aiming to break through a loaded Western Conference and get into the playoffs for the first time since 2013.
The biggest reason for team’s belief in Murray? He’s finally healthy.
“My body is the best it’s felt in a long time,” he said. “I’m looking forward to using it this season.”
Training the mind
The way Murray’s mindset has been shaped by practicing meditation — he dubs it “mental Kung Fu” — and his deep-seeded competitiveness is well-documented. But a young Murray first started showing sheer physi-
cal toughness during Saturday morning wrestling matches with his father, Roger, when he “never wanted to back down.”
That grit carried over to organized sports. Roger recalls a time during a youth basketball game when Jamal’s finger snapped back and popped out of its socket. He insisted on getting back in the game.
Murray played through broken fingers, sprained ankles, “every injury I’ve had” to keep on the court. His father, meanwhile, would closely monitor Jamal’s health, helping his son understand which ailments he should take seriously and which ones he should ignore.
“It just becomes a part of him, so it becomes easier each time,” Roger said. “It becomes normal for him to take pain and carry on or block it out or just move beyond that.”
Murray knew early in his rookie NBA season that his groin area was injured, not just sore. But he was the teenager trying to prove he was worthy of the Nuggets’ high draft pick, that he belonged on the same court with the best basketball players in the world. He was not about to complain.
“Sometimes Coach (Malone) would demand, ‘C’mon, Jamal. Pick it up,’ ” Murray recalled. “There’s times where I said (to myself ), ‘I have to push through it and fight through it.’
“(It) took a lot out of me to be able to do this.”
The pain got “continuously worse” as time passed. Malone said the Nuggets’ training staff notified him of Murray’s condition sometime during the sec- ond half of the season. Closely re-watch game tape, Roger suggests, and one will notice his son briefly grimace and limp when landing after a layup, before getting back on defense.
Before one game about midway through the season, Roger recalls watching his son hobble and telling him he did not need to play. A few minutes later, Jamal returned and told his father “I’m ready.”
“He had to dig deep for that one, because he could barely walk,” Roger said. “Then he did his thing.”
Despite his health struggles, Murray averaged 9.9 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.1 assists while playing both shooting guard and point guard as a rookie. He learned how to come off the bench, then emerged as a lateseason starter when the Nuggets made a playoff push. He got his first experience with the exhaustive travel and being the youngest guy in a locker room.
Murray had surgery in April and called the recovery process “the most down part of my life.” He could not walk for a few days, yet was back in the Pepsi Center less than a week later to work his upper body on the battle ropes. But he couldn’t play for about four months, trading shooting drills and pickup games for extensive rehabilitation sessions.
He went home to Kitchener, Ontario, over the summer to spend time with his family. Roger was happy to see his son finally “be lazy for a second.” They spent hours lounging on the couch and talking, with the conversations often circling back to basketball. They studied the intricacies of his game, from how he reads angles to how he could cut harder to the basket to the form of his shot release.
“I had a lot of time to think,” Jamal said.
About a month before the start of training camp, Jamal called his dad with news. He could move side to side without any discomfort.
“I could hear excitement in his voice,” Roger said.
Feeling much better
In the middle of a preseason game against the Los Angeles Lakers, Murray found himself bouncing around during a timeout. He was playing in an NBA game and he did not hurt, and that was reason for a small mental celebration.
Malone also noticed Murray’s explosive return during the Nuggets’ recent trip to Southern California, noting how Murray confidently knocked down shots and aggressively pressured the ball-handler on the defensive end. Throughout the preseason, Malone has stressed that Murray cannot be tentative.
Top-level guard play is imperative in today’s NBA, particularly in the daunting Western Conference. Though Murray is not a prototypical point guard, he’s a valuable asset in Denver’s free-flowing style. He can initiate the offense, dial up a shot from beyond the 3-point line or use his 6-foot-4 frame to switch onto a taller player on defense.
The Nuggets are counting on Murray to continue turning potential into production. And this season brings promise because he has finally returned to full health.
“Being back on the floor just gave me all types of energy,” Murray said. “My spirit is up right now.”