Jamal Murray came to play in his first postseason game in three years, scoring a team-high 24 points as the Denver Nuggets derailed the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 1 of their first-round series.
It was Murray's first playoff game in 950 days, and after leading his team to a convincing 109-80 win at Ball Arena on Sunday night, he spoke about the emotions of being back in the dance.
“My adrenaline was running, it was a lot of fun to just be back and feel the energy,” Murray said afterwards in an on-court interview with Altitude TV. “More to come.”
Murray also spoke about the fan support from the Mile High City in Game 1.
“[The fans] were amazing, they gave us energy even when we weren't scoring, even when they went on a run we just stayed with it and used it to our advantage,” Murray explained.
“We just want to play hard for 48, use the home court advantage, to our advantage…we just want to play an all-around game and I think we did that tonight. We gotta do the same thing on Wednesday.”
The 26-year-old Canadian dished out eight assists in his first playoff game since the 2020 NBA bubble, while adding eight boards for good measure.
The opener marked Murray's first playoff appearance since he broke out three years ago, twice putting up 50 points to help the Nuggets reach the Western Conference Finals where they lost to LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers.
Murray tore his left ACL eight months later and has missed the Nuggets' last two playoff runs.
“I'm just so happy for him, proud of him,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said before the game. “It has not been an easy journey for him, but I think this year, we've seen Jamal have moments where that's the Jamal Murray that we all love and remember. We know how important he is to us.”
The Nuggets will look to keep the momentum going in Game 2 on Wednesday night in Denver.
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