There are fewer players with a higher approval rating in Denver right now than Jamal Murray. The Nuggets guard has been on a tear thus far in the Western Conference Finals and is a pivotal piece that helped bring them a win away from the NBA Finals.
Murray's hit so many big shots during their playoff run this season that it makes it hard to fathom how low rock bottom was when he suffered a career-pausing ACL injury back in April of 2021.
Nuggets head coach Michael Malone freely spoke about that moment, which adds to the magnitude of where Jamal Murray is today – rebuilding his legacy as a proven playoff performer.
“I remember being in the bus with him going into the airport after he did the injury in Golden State the next day,” said Michael Malone on Jamal Murray. “He had tears in his eyes. That was the message, ‘Hey, you're going to come back from this and you're going to be better.' In that moment, it's really hard to believe that.”
Jamal Murray was in the midst of his best regular season by far before tearing his ACL, riding the high of his legendary NBA Bubble exhibition. He would be forced to miss an entire season and a half, including two playoff runs.
During Day 1 of that long grind back, Murray wondered if it was the end of the road for his time in Denver. He saw himself as “damaged goods” the Nuggets might be better moving on from.
“His first thought was, ‘Man, are you guys gonna trade me? I'm damaged goods, are you guys going to trade me now?' I said, ‘hell no, you're ours,'” Malone continued, saying they shared a hug right after.
Murray has averaged 35 points per game on 52.1 percent shooting from the field through the first three games. He's done most of his damage in the fourth quarters of said games, with 12.7 points during the final 12 minutes. Not bad for “damaged goods”.
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