DENVER – The addition of Denver Nuggets Star Guard Jamal Murray on Thursday afternoon in the injury report for match 6 was just a simple formality.
Murray was listed as questionable due to an illness he felt after waking up in the morning, but he never had any doubt that he would be in the starting alignment with the Nuggets facing the elimination against the Thunder of Oklahoma City with a series.
“Absolutely not,” said Murray after the Nuggets extended their series of semi-finals from the Western Conference and their season with a 119-107 victory in Ball Arena.
Murray, as he has done so many times over the years with the nuggets confronted with elimination, has played a main role. He had 25 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists, a performance typical enough for him given the circumstances.
“Jamal is just a different cat,” said Julian Strawther, the reserve wing Nuggets, who scored his 15 points in the second period, including eight in a 10-0 race at the end of the third quarter. “He is wired differently. We know he is one of the most difficult guys in the league.”
Nuggets are now 9-3 with Murray in programming when a loss would have eliminated them. He collected an average of 27.6 points, 5.3 rebounds and 5.3 assists in these matches, with another opportunity of this type in match 7 Sunday in Oklahoma City.
“Obviously, it was a situation of victory or Die for them, and they came out with a feeling of emergency and jumped on us right away,” said the superstar of the Thunder Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, which collected 32 points and six assists. “If we want to get a next DUB game, we cannot let it happen.”
It will be the seventh game 7 for the Nuggets since 2019, the most in the NBA during this period, according to ESPN Research.
The availability of match 7 of the Nuggets striker Power Aaron Gordon, another main member of the Denver title team two years ago, is in question after its release at the end of the fourth quarter after having felt tension in its left hamstrings. It will be more evaluated on Friday.
“I feel good. We will see,” said Gordon. “I’m going to start the recovery process now and make sure I prepare for match 7.”
Murray underwent treatment all day on Thursday, including receiving intravenous liquids, and was only officially authorized to play on about 45 minutes before Tipoff. He quickly answered all the questions about his ability to occur in the circumstances, by hitting one and 1 pointer 3 for the first nugget basket and marking 11 points in the first quarter.
“He opened the game really good for us, and he set the tone, but I don’t think that [illness] Touched him at all, “said Nikola Jokic’s superstar of Nuggets, who experienced another dominant performance with 29 points, 14 rebounds and 8 assists.” When you play the game, I think you don’t think about what you have or what is the problem. “”
Murray played a 42 -minute top despite “everything that bothers me”, including having difficulty breathing sometimes. Denver dominated Oklahoma City of 28 points with Murray on the ground, including a margin of 11 points when he played the whole third quarter and the Nuggets took control.
“Once the match is at the start, the team needs you and that adrenaline comes into play,” said Murray. “You see a few shots and you suck it and play it.”
The acting coach of Nuggets, David Adelman, admitted that he was concerned about the amount of the disease would affect Murray. These concerns ended with the point halfway in the first quarter.
“I watched in a way the first six minutes [thinking]”Is it real?” Can he do it? “” Said Adelman, who celebrated his 44th birthday on Thursday. “And I thought he had good energy and a good juice. There was a few times when he really wanted to go back to get the ball. He was so gassed, having trouble breathing. But it is Jamal Murray. It’s almost like the worst he is, the better. And what a hard and hard man.”
