he practically started gushing:\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cI\u2019ve seen his numbers as of late \u2018cuz we scouted him today, and he\u2019s been playing exceptionally well, shooting the ball at a high level, scoring at a high level, they\u2019ve been able to stay afloat, they\u2019ve won some big games without Jokic. I think he\u2019s an All-Star player for sure. When he\u2019s on the floor, he\u2019s an all-star point guard; he\u2019s an all-star caliber player. That\u2019s for the coaches to decide, but I think he\u2019s an All-Star.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, I think it\u2019s safe to say that Murray has LeBron\u2019s vote to make an All-Star team. The second half was awful, but Jamal was incredible in the first two quarters, lighting up the Lakers for 26 points and 7 assists before the break, which helped Denver to a 71-57 halftime lead.<\/p>\n
A big part of the Lakers\u2019 comeback was doubling Murray and forcing his teammates to beat them, which they were unable to do. So, even struggling late, Jamal\u2019s impact was crystal clear, and LeBron and the Lakers recognized that stopping him was their only chance.<\/p>\n
LeBron and Murray competing for West All-Star reserve spot<\/p>\n
The funny thing about this endorsement from LeBron is that he, himself, is also vying to make the All-Star team as a reserve in the Western Conference. Based on merit this season alone, James doesn\u2019t have much of a case. His numbers are down, he barely plays defense, he\u2019s missed a bunch of games, and his team is sixth in the West with him being arguably their third-best player.<\/p>\n
But we all know this isn\u2019t completely based on merit. LeBron is the star of stars, and to have an All-Star Game in LA without him feels crazy. At 41-years old, he\u2019s not what he once was, but he\u2019s still a great player, and as big a star as ever.<\/p>\n
One way or another, I think Adam Silver is going to make sure that LeBron is playing in that game. Hopefully, he won\u2019t take the spot of a more \u201cdeserving\u201d player like Murray, but don\u2019t be shocked if that\u2019s the case.<\/p>\n
Luckily for Jamal, he has played well enough that he should be a lock to make the squad and one of the first reserves selected. If a fringe guy gets cut to make room for LBJ, it won\u2019t be Murray. Furthermore, while they are competing as West reserves, that\u2019s where it ends. Murray is a guard, while James is a forward, plus Murray will represent the international team, while James, of course, is American.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Nuggets choked on Tuesday night, getting outscored by 22 points in the second half to lose at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":552502,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3781],"tags":[7,301,187,3943,6,302],"class_list":{"0":"post-552501","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-denver-nuggets","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-denver","10":"tag-denver-nuggets","11":"tag-denvernuggets","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-nuggets"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115937036408832652","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552501","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=552501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552501\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/552502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=552501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=552501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=552501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}