Bubble Murray, playoff Murray, playing against the Lakers Murray, there’s a plethora of nicknames for Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray when the postseason comes around. He consistently raises his level for Denver, and Thursday night at Ball Arena was just another example.

Murray, despite battling an illness throughout the day, finished the night with 25 points, eight rebounds and seven assists as Denver pulled away with a 119-107 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder to force a Game 7. He got off to a hot start with 11 points in the first quarter, including a four-point play to kick off the scoring for Denver, and stayed in a rhythm all night long to help out Nikola Jokic and the rest of the offense.

Thursday was the 30th time that Murray scored at least 25 points in a playoff game. He’s played in 78 playoff games in his career.

Jamal Murray has more 25-point playoff games than

— Devin Booker
— Jalen Brunson
— Joel Embiid
— Kevin Garnett
— Tracy McGrady
— Bill Russell
— Derrick Rose
— Penny Hardaway
— Chauncey Billups
— Vince Carter pic.twitter.com/JhXL2p0wvo

— StatMuse (@statmuse) May 16, 2025

That’s not a bad list of players to be ahead of when it comes to scoring, especially a guy as talented and decorated as Kevin Garnett. In the playoffs, he’s averaged 23.9 points per game, way up from his career regular season average of 18.0 points per game. Of those 30 games in which he scored at least 25 points, he went for 30 or more in 19 of them, 40 or more in four of them, and 50 in two of them (both were against the Jazz in the 2020 NBA Bubble).

His averages go up even more when his back against the wall, as he’s put up 27.6 points per game in 12 elimination games in his career, including four performances of at least 35 points.

Murray has only scored 25 or more points in four of the 13 games so far this postseason, with three of them coming in the West Semis against the Thunder. The fourth was his 43-point explosion in Game 5 against the LA Clippers that swung the momentum of the series further in Denver’s favor as they took a 3-2 lead.

The most important stat behind Murray’s scoring bursts in the playoff is how well Denver plays when he’s firing on all cylinders, as the Nuggets are 22-8 in the 30 games that he’s totaled at least 25 points.

Murray became the third player in franchise history to hit the 30 25-point playoff games mark for the Nuggets, joining Jokic (56) and Alex English (32). The only other players who have reached this feat at least ten times are Carmelo Anthony (24), Dan Issel (15) and David Thompson (11).

The Blue Arrow will have to give the Nuggets one more great performance on Sunday afternoon to get Denver to a third Western Conference Finals in six years. Tip-off for Game 7 is set for 1:30 p.m. Denver time.