Aside from the Golden State Warriors, I haven’t seen another resilient team in the NBA as I did tonight watching the Denver Nuggets (DN) take on the Los Angeles (LA) Lakers.
Twice Nuggets’ team rebounded from a 3:0 (against Utah Jazz) and 3:1 (against LA Clippers) deficit to win both the playoffs’ first and second round games.
Denver Nuggets is currently playing in the 2019-20 NBA West Conference Finals against the LA Lakers and trailing a 2:0. Today, I watched these DN guys wear out the LA Lakers – it was hilarious watching LeBron and AD panting on the court! Or maybe it was just my imagination lol
Enough of the Denver Nuggets team. But, who in the world is Jamal Murray?! At the end of the fourth quarter, this #27 guy and his teammates were still ready to go another quarter or two. I love their tenacity and won’t at all be surprised if, on Thursday, they win again to equalize the series.
But, who is this young dude?
According to Wikipedia, “Jamal Murray is a Canadian born on February 23, 1997. He played one season of college basketball for the Kentucky Wildcats before being drafted by the Nuggets with the seventh overall pick in the 2016 NBA draft. His career highlights and awards include:
NBA All-Rookie Second Team (2017)Third-team All-American – AP (2016)First-team All-SEC (2016)SEC All-Freshman Team (2016)Nike Hoop Summit MVP (2015)BioSteel All-Canadian MVP (2015)Jordan Brand Classic International MVP (2013).”
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There are tons of young excellent and talented dudes in the NBA. Many with “hands;” some with speed, some with brains; many with passion, some with court character – no dirty tricks or plays and no shoving on court and feigning unawares of occurrence, but few combine it all. I watched Jamal Murray and, as 23 years young as he is, I tell you, he got it all! He was relentless and determined and he sure delivered on the win with a double-double making LeBron’s triple-double pale in comparison.
Certainly Jamal couldn’t have done it all by himself; that’s why basketball is a team sport unlike golf or tennis. His companion, Nikola Jokic, who also had a double-double for the night, was spectacular. So were Jerami Grant and Monte Morris. Granted (no pun intended) that Nuggets blew a 20-point lead twice, the night was well worth the fight.
. . .
Tuesday’s game puts the Lakers on notice that the Nuggets weren’t going to be discarded easily nor soon. We look forward to an equally, or better, spectacular game on Thursday.
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