{"id":15665,"date":"2025-05-07T09:41:18","date_gmt":"2025-05-07T09:41:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/15665\/"},"modified":"2025-05-07T09:41:18","modified_gmt":"2025-05-07T09:41:18","slug":"nuggets-jamal-murray-motivated-by-being-drafted-after-clippers-kris-dunn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/15665\/","title":{"rendered":"Nuggets Jamal Murray motivated by being drafted after Clippers Kris Dunn"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the course of a playoff series, the dynamic between Jamal Murray<\/a> and an illustrious perimeter defender<\/a> starts to resemble that of a first baseman and a runner on base, as Murray would describe it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s funny, because I get some good defenders on me year after year,\u201d he reflected, \u201cand I get to create good relationships with those guys. Getting to play against them, we\u2019re just joking around, going back and forth, taunting, whatever it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other words, there\u2019s something weirdly chummy about cutthroat competition.<\/p>\n

But still with an undercurrent of rancor.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s complicated.<\/p>\n

Murray responded with a smile Tuesday when asked if he outsources any extra motivation from the fact that his latest dogged defender, Kris Dunn, was drafted ahead of him nine years ago. \u201cOne hundred percent,\u201d he said simply. \u201cOne hundred percent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murray\u2019s shot-making and showmanship were at their best in Game 5<\/a> of Denver\u2019s first-round series, his 43-point performance guiding the Nuggets to a 3-2 lead over the Clippers. It was an announcement of his arrival to the 2025 playoffs, after he lingered around his regular-season scoring average for three games and dipped into inadequacy in the fourth.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can kind of tell, the way the ball goes off his hands certain nights,\u201d interim coach David Adelman said. \u201cI thought he had great lift on his jump shot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murray doesn\u2019t forget. He can manufacture a chip on his shoulder as effectively as any professional athlete. Against Dunn, that chip is the size of Canada. The Nuggets picked Murray seventh overall in the 2016 draft, adding a foundational piece of their eventual championship puzzle. Two picks earlier, Dunn was taken by the Minnesota Timberwolves.<\/p>\n

The feeling of having been overlooked in a draft is classic, borderline-clich\u00e9 fuel for athletes. Murray has a full tank of it in this series. In fact, Clippers backup center Ben Simmons was the No. 1 pick in his draft, going to Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s more before (the series),\u201d Murray said when asked when he thinks about those storylines. \u201cWe\u2019re just competing. We\u2019re just trying to get the win right now. It\u2019s best out of three. It\u2019s not about making it personal. It\u2019s just, you know, it goes for anybody. Not just (Dunn). But it\u2019s just a competitive spirit. It\u2019s like I said, I like the challenge, and I like to give a challenge, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murray converted 11 of 17 shots outside of the paint in Denver\u2019s 131-115 win. The Clippers shared in the blame for his eight 3-pointers. He knocked down multiple 3s with Dunn in his face, then others while guarded by a cavalcade of Nicolas Batum, Derrick Jones Jr. and James Harden.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought he came out being aggressive, which we knew he would. That\u2019s why we started off with the blitz against him,\u201d Clippers coach Ty Lue said. \u201cJust to try to slow him down. \u2026 And he made every shot. Pull-up 3s. Midrange. We did everything. We dropped, we switched, we did a lot of different coverages. But he had a hell of a game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murray was a release valve for Nikola Jokic on a 4-for-13 shooting night<\/a>. The Serbian big man tied his career-low for shots made in a playoff game \u2014 matching his playoff debut in 2019. When Jokic is a vacuum scorer, it generally doesn\u2019t bode well for the Nuggets. Murray is the opposite. His points are the antithesis of empty stats.<\/p>\n

Since he returned from his torn ACL at the start of the 2022-23 season, Denver is 33-4 when he scores 30 points, including the postseason. In his playoff career, the Nuggets are 8-1 when he surpasses 35.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he\u2019s complementary of Nikola, it\u2019s great,\u201d Adelman said, \u201cbut it sure is nice to have these nights where it\u2019s his show.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an accurate word choice. Murray is a connoisseur of the game within the game. He plays to the crowd like very few in the NBA can. His expressive face and surly tone lend personality to a low-key Nuggets locker room.<\/p>\n

And he\u2019s enthralled by the challenge of solving a top-tier defender for six or seven games, especially when that defender represents a decade-old draft snub.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s times when you\u2019ve gotta roll with the punches. There\u2019s times where you\u2019ve gotta shake it up a little bit and make him react to you. \u2026 You\u2019ve just gotta keep him off-balance,\u201d Murray said of facing Dunn. \u201cProbably the best way I can put it. Keep him off-balance. Not give him one look. Give him something to think about. \u2026 It\u2019s always fun going against him. And it\u2019s always a battle to go against him. I just have fun with those matchups.\u201d<\/p>\n

Want more Nuggets news? Sign up for the Nuggets Insider to get all our NBA analysis.<\/a><\/p>\n

Originally Published: April 30, 2025 at 5:00 AM MDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Over the course of a playoff series, the dynamic between Jamal Murray and an illustrious perimeter defender starts…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15666,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3781],"tags":[7,2643,765,250,301,187,3943,766,762,560,165,252,6,11,253,302,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-15665","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-denver-nuggets","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-ben-simmons","10":"tag-colorado","11":"tag-david-adelman","12":"tag-denver","13":"tag-denver-nuggets","14":"tag-denvernuggets","15":"tag-front-range","16":"tag-jamal-murray","17":"tag-james-harden","18":"tag-latest-headlines","19":"tag-more-nuggets-news","20":"tag-nba","21":"tag-nba-playoffs","22":"tag-nikola-jokic","23":"tag-nuggets","24":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114465901190791322","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15665\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}