{"id":513972,"date":"2026-01-03T13:38:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T13:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/513972\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T13:38:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T13:38:13","slug":"jamal-murray-on-being-nuggets-last-starter-standing-amid-injuries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/513972\/","title":{"rendered":"Jamal Murray on being Nuggets’ last starter standing amid injuries"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2014 Jamal Murray<\/a> was the last starter standing.<\/p>\n

Hobbled, maybe, but standing. His right ankle was bothering him, enough to appear on the Nuggets\u2019 injury report the next day. Not enough, though, to stop him from playing Wednesday in Toronto, an hour from where he grew up. He only gets one of these visits to Canada per season. This one was occurring under especially memorable circumstances, for better or worse.<\/p>\n

He was the star of the show. And he will be for the next month, as long as he can avoid the injury contagion spreading to every corner of his locker room.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe training staff is gonna be busy,\u201d he said after Jonas Valanciunas joined the team\u2019s wounded<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With three-time MVP Nikola Jokic on the shelf for the next month \u2014 it\u2019ll be his longest stretch without playing in his NBA career \u2014 Murray is Denver\u2019s frontman like he\u2019s never been before. Consider it an interesting test of his solo ability to drive offense while he\u2019s on the precipice of making his first career All-Star Game<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But the test started with an unfair disadvantage: Jokic wasn\u2019t the only guy out.<\/p>\n

In an almost comically ridiculous plot twist to Murray\u2019s extraordinary season<\/a>, he has been the team\u2019s only available starter for two consecutive games, entering a Sunday matinee in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt sucks. It just adds a whole dynamic to the game, with so many guys out,\u201d Murray said. \u201cYou\u2019ve just gotta focus on just bringing energy, playing hard, controlling what you can control, playing together, talking, being a leader. Playing aggressive, playing confident, trying to share that confidence. All those little things kind of go into, obviously, what a team is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murray says his individual focus without Jokic is similar to what it was before \u2014 that he needs to keep playing how he\u2019s been playing, \u201cjust even better.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s easier said than done when so many variables are removed from Denver\u2019s offensive equation. He suddenly finds himself sharing NBA minutes with\u00a0younger, end-of-bench players whom\u00a0he enjoys encouraging behind the scenes<\/a> \u2014 players who are often\u00a0ignored by defenses.<\/p>\n

That means Murray will be constantly under siege, at least until Denver regains Aaron Gordon\u2019s secondary ball-handling and shot creation. The basketball court will be as crowded as Times Square (or Yonge-Dundas Square) on New Year\u2019s Eve from Murray\u2019s vantage point.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s gonna have attention beyond attention all over the floor,\u201d coach David Adelman said. \u201cHe\u2019s gonna get doubled and blitzed in pick-and-rolls and all those things. So we have to do things for Jamal. We have to screen to get him open.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to do unselfish things for him, and on the flip side of that, he\u2019s got to keep making the right play, which he has. \u2026 When there\u2019s two on you, and there\u2019s an open man, you throw it to your teammate.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, the version of us that is the Denver Nuggets has to trust each other, and other guys are gonna have to step up and make shots through Jamal Murray.\u201d<\/p>\n

He patched together 21 points, seven rebounds and six assists in the first game without Jokic, bringing his season averages to 25.1, 4.5 and 6.9. Despite a relatively inefficient performance for his standard, he led the Nuggets in the plus-minus column. They won his minutes by eight and lost those without him by five in a gutsy 106-103 victory over the Raptors.<\/p>\n

Another round of All-Star questioning awaited him afterward in his annual postgame presser with Toronto media.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, I\u2019d like to be an All-Star, All-NBA, scoring champ, MVP, NBA champ. I want to be all of it, right? But winning matters,\u201d Murray said. \u201cI think I try to sacrifice and do the little things for this team to win, and if we win the championship and I don\u2019t (make) All-Star, we win the championship, you know what I\u2019m saying? So that\u2019s where my mind is at.\u201d<\/p>\n

Therein lies the difficult balance he\u2019ll be attempting to locate in the weeks ahead. Murray needs to make the right basketball play and get off the ball when he encounters a double-team. If the Nuggets can play four-on-three, he needs to facilitate that instead of over-dribbling in traffic.<\/p>\n

He also needs to play like a proverbial All-Star for Denver to win a few games during this stretch, and that includes scoring. He needs to be willing to demand the ball and take a lot of shots, even against coverages designed to prevent him from doing so.<\/p>\n

\u201c(I\u2019m) not wavering in my aggressiveness, whether I make or miss,\u201d Murray said. \u201cI think the other team knows what they\u2019re gonna get from me, so just staying consistent with that, and however the game unfolds is how it unfolds. Winning is the priority, but just keeping my foot on the gas, not just to go against the other team but also for my team to understand what\u2019s gonna come behind the play (when defenses blitz). We can build this chemistry over the next month or two to get ready for the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also looming over the conundrum is Murray\u2019s individual mileage. He was already averaging a team-high 35.1 minutes (tied with Jokic) before Jokic got hurt. He played 37.5 minutes in Toronto. Between Denver\u2019s lack of healthy bodies and Murray\u2019s increased burden as the primary shot creator, burnout is a genuine threat.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s my biggest worry,\u201d Adelman said Friday in Cleveland. \u201cI know the guys we have playing tonight are going to play as hard as they possibly can, with great intention. But I have to take care of that guy. And it\u2019s difficult. \u2026 It\u2019s a daily conversation with the medical staff, with the front office, making sure we\u2019re doing the best things for him. At the same time, he feels a responsibility to be there for his teammates.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond Murray, Denver\u2019s next best scorers are likely to be Tim Hardaway Jr. and Peyton Watson as long as four starters (and Valanciunas) remain out. Christian Braun and Gordon will change the dynamic when they return. But even then, Murray will be the team\u2019s offensive engine for a precarious few weeks in the Nuggets\u2019 promising season.<\/p>\n

\u201cLosing Nikola, he\u2019s one of the greatest players to ever live,\u201d Adelman said. \u201cJust bottom line.\u201d<\/p>\n

Want more Nuggets news? Sign up for the Nuggets Insider to get all our NBA analysis.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 Jamal Murray was the last starter standing. Hobbled, maybe, but standing. His right ankle was bothering…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":513973,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3782],"tags":[877,7,4821,561,765,250,301,187,766,1035,762,6890,165,307,152,3954,252,6,253,302,1146,66,759,308,71630],"class_list":["post-513972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-minnesota-timberwolves","tag-aaron-gordon","tag-basketball","tag-canada","tag-christian-braun","tag-colorado","tag-david-adelman","tag-denver","tag-denver-nuggets","tag-front-range","tag-injury","tag-jamal-murray","tag-jonas-valanciunas","tag-latest-headlines","tag-minnesota","tag-minnesota-timberwolves","tag-minnesotatimberwolves","tag-more-nuggets-news","tag-nba","tag-nikola-jokic","tag-nuggets","tag-peyton-watson","tag-sports","tag-tim-hardaway","tag-timberwolves","tag-times-square"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513972","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=513972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/513973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=513972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=513972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=513972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}