Murray’s starmaking series nearly ended badly
Frantic Game 7 final play could’ve gone either way
KISSIMMEE, Fla. — The topsy-turvy, record-setting shootout between Jamal Murray and Donovan Mitchell ended the only way it ever could, with the victor gleefully spraying water on his coach and the defeated lying, inconsolable, on the hardwood.
Down to the final game. Down to the final play. Down to the final second. Down to the final inch.
Murray’s Denver Nuggets barely survived with an 80-78 victory in Game 7 on Tuesday, sending home Mitchell’s Utah Jazz from the NBA’s Disney World bubble after a fierce first-round playoff series that saw the two rising stars combine for four 50-point games.
To advance, Denver rode Murray’s scoring exploits to dig out of a 3-1 series deficit and held its breath throughout a chaotic closing sequence that won’t soon be forgotten.
With 17.4 seconds left and Denver up by two, Utah inbounded to Mitchell, who had the ball stolen as he drove to the hoop. The Nuggets raced the other way but chose not to dribble out the clock or wait for the Jazz to foul. Murray drove hard at the hoop in transition and, with eight seconds left, passed the ball to his right to Torrey Craig, who blew the layup.
Utah secured the rebound and went racing back the other direction, feeding the ball to Mike Conley on the left wing. The veteran point guard pulled up for a three-pointer just before the buzzer, and his potential game-winner rimmed around and out as time expired. Mitchell collapsed to the court, where he remained until Murray eventually came over for a hug.
The frenetic ending left all parties, who appeared spent throughout a low-scoring Game 7, in stunned disbelief.
Mitchell fought back tears at his news conference. After receiving a hero’s welcome as he entered the Nuggets’ locker-room, Murray walked through the hallway and muttered to no one in particular, “If we had lost the game because of that …”
Denver, brimming with relief, tried to pass the buck for its near-catastrophic lapse of judgment in the final seconds. Coach Michael Malone told reporters, “I don’t know what Jamal was doing on the layup to Torrey Craig, but we’ll talk about that a different time.”
Murray joked that “Torrey missing the layup” — rather than his duel with Mitchell — would be his enduring memory of the series. Craig popped into the media room to defend his honour: “To be fair, I thought (Murray) was going to score. My bad!” Meanwhile, Nikola Jokic dryly ruminated on the alternate ending.
“We are laughing right now, but it could be tragic,” the allstar centre said.
Their jubilation was only possible because of the 23-year-old Murray, who scored 50 points in Game 4, 42 points in Game 5, and 50 points in Game 6 to tie the series. The fourth-year Canadian guard, who turned pro in 2016 after his freshman season at the University of Kentucky, has elevated his reputation in the bubble more than any player besides Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic.
Murray generated little attention as an all-star candidate this season, and he has been largely defined by his inconsistent play. During last year’s playoffs, he alternated between sensational and spotty, providing fodder to supporters and skeptics. Malone has spent years riding the ups and downs, centring the offence on Jokic and trying to build Murray’s confidence. The reward came over the past two weeks, with Murray, whose game has always been predicated on his outside shooting, getting red hot.
“The young man is growing up and turning into a superstar on the biggest stage,” Malone said after Game 5.
Like many of his peers, Murray was profoundly affected by the Jacob Blake police shooting in Kenosha, Wis., last week. He’s been wearing Adidas sneakers with pictures of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor throughout bubble play. After protests led by the Milwaukee Bucks that prompted a three-day shutdown of the NBA and the WNBA, Murray dedicated his 50-point explosion in Game 6 to the social justice movement.
When Murray entered the 2016 draft, he was pitched by some optimistic analysts as an heir to Stephen Curry due to his deep shooting range, ball-handling skills and small frame. Such comparisons are unfair to Curry and Murray, but the latter now has teams harbouring draft-day regrets just like the former.
Yet Tuesday’s thriller was a reminder that Murray, for all his upside and fearlessness, is still capricious. Had Conley’s jumper rolled in, Murray’s incredible series would have gone for naught. With an unfriendly bounce, Murray’s decision to take off running would have been red meat for talking heads.