In reaching Finals, Canada’s Murray a “pioneer” in more ways than one
The first question Jamal Murray fielded on the eve of Game 1 of the NBA Finals elicited a transcontinental fist pump.
Frankly, it was more a statement than a question. Murray was told of a watch party in his hometown of Kitchener, Ontario. Even just the mention of his hometown brought immense joy to the Canadian’s face.
“I’ve had a lot of friends text me about the watch parties, gathering around,” Murray said. “The support has been crazy back home. That means a lot, especially from a small town like Kitchener. … Be back there in the summer, see my friends and family. But, yeah, no one from Kitchener has made (it) this far, so it’s nice to be a pioneer in that sense.”
One could call Murray a pioneer simply by choosing basketball over hockey, high tops over skates.
To hear Murray explain it, there was never really a conflict.
“I always loved basketball,” he said. “Couldn’t afford the equipment for hockey at the time. Basketball was the easiest thing to give me. Yeah, I just fell in love with it. The only thing I wanted to do. Night and day, it made me happy, and still does to this day.”
So far these playoffs, Murray has reminisced about spinning layups off double-rimmed hoops and harvesting a love for basketball even on mangled, concrete courts as a kid. He famously played Mike Breen’s color commentary — “Bang!” — in his head to simulate this stage and prepare for this moment.
On Wednesday, one night before the Nuggets will face the Heat to finally resume playoff basketball, Murray turned back the clock yet again and reflected on the moments that preceded his current stage.
Yes, he watched from afar as the Spurs swept Lebron James’ Cavs in the Finals back in 2007, and yes, he was watching during those epic Spurs-heat series once James took his talents to South Beach. His coach, Michael Malone, even recalled flying to Toronto to watch a RaptorsCavs playoff game with Murray.
That shared memory came before the Nuggets, as constructed, ever even reached the postseason.
“I wanted him to feel and see what it meant,” Malone said.
But Murray’s most cherished moments as a kid seemed to be when he envisioned reaching them as a professional.
“Funny thing is it wasn’t just for the championship,” Murray said of his mental 3-2-1 buzzer-beaters.
“I used to, like, write down the playoff seeding, put myself on one of the teams, then play,” he explained. “If we played Detroit Pistons, I would go against (Chauncey) Billups and Rasheed Wallace, and just talk like Marv Albert, all of them. I was in deep. I was making shot after shot, trust me.”
In deep? Sounds like hockey never stood a chance.
Years later, Murray’s dreams have manifested into reality. He’s averaged nearly 28 points per game in his first postseason since tearing his ACL, seizing on the moment and making his family, and hometown, proud.
But Murray feels it in his adopted hometown, too. He said he’s seen fans around Denver wearing his jersey and noticed a buzz even at his local gas station.
“Everybody in the city is behind us,” Murray said. “That means a lot.”