{"id":694644,"date":"2026-04-02T21:19:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T21:19:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/694644\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T21:19:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T21:19:14","slug":"nuggets-desperately-need-playoff-jamal-murray-to-win-another-ring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/694644\/","title":{"rendered":"Nuggets Desperately Need \u201cPlayoff Jamal Murray\u201d to Win Another Ring"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the summer of 2023, the Denver Nuggets were on top of the NBA world, defeating<\/a> the Miami Heat to claim the Larry O\u2019Brien Trophy. Denver took down Anthony Edwards<\/a>\u2018 Timberwolves, Kevin Durant<\/a>\u2018s Suns, and LeBron James<\/a>\u2018 Lakers en route to its first championship in franchise history. Three-time NBA MVP Nikola Joki\u0107<\/a>\u00a0took home Finals MVP, but without Jamal Murray<\/a>, Denver would have never<\/a> made it that far.<\/p>\n

Since that year, however, the Nuggets have been trying and failing to climb back up the ladder.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve lost each of the last two years in seven games in the Western Conference Semifinals. First<\/a>, it happened against Anthony Edwards and the T-Wolves, then<\/a> to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/a> and the Oklahoma City Thunder. In both years, Jamal Murray struggled in the playoffs, statistically looking below his performance in 2023.<\/p>\n

That said, Murray has looked like a man possessed this year, averaging over 25 points per game and earning<\/a> his first All-Star selection. He\u2019s been playing some of the best ball<\/a> of his life, and Nuggets fans can feel it. With Murray playing at this level, the sky is the limit for Denver.<\/p>\n

Murray Magic<\/p>\n

Before the bubble season in 2020, few had regarded Jamal Murray as more than a solid young point guard.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Murray had yet to average over 20 points a game in the regular season, and he had only reached the playoffs once. Then, the bubble playoffs arrived, and he exploded, averaging over 26 points a night. In their first round series, Murray dropped<\/a> 50, 42, and then 50 again in games 4-6, leading Denver to a 3-1 comeback against Donovan Mitchell<\/a> and the Jazz.<\/p>\n

He followed up that performance by helping Denver pull off yet another 3-1 comeback against the Clippers, tallying 40 in Game 7. Though the Nuggets went on to lose to the Lakers in the conference finals, Murray had already arrived.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately for Denver fans, a torn ACL<\/a> kept him out of the 2021 and 2022 playoffs. Then came 2023, where he picked up right where he left off.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

During the regular season, Jamal Murray only averaged 20 points per game. In the postseason, his scoring ballooned to over 26 a contest. Murray dominated all postseason, putting up two games with 35 or more against Minnesota, then three 28+ games against Phoenix, and three 31+ games against the Lakers.<\/p>\n

Murray lost out on Finals MVP, as his impact simply wasn\u2019t needed in the quick five-game series. But his talent was no longer going unnoticed, as he had cemented himself, at the time, as the greatest<\/a> NBA playoff riser.<\/p>\n

Murray Misfires<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the magic did not continue for Jamal Murray after that season.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Murray averaged under 22 points per game in the 2024 and 2025 playoffs. The 2024 playoff run was a specifically tough watch. He shot just over 40% from the field and 30% from three, both career-low marks in Murray\u2019s playoff career.<\/p>\n

He had his moments in the first series, hitting two game-winners on the Lakers to propel Denver onward. However, in the Minnesota series, Murray scored under 20 points in five of the seven games.<\/p>\n

His percentages increased slightly in 2025, but the production still lacked. The Timberwolves and Thunder, two admittedly great defensive teams, found ways to completely shut him down. He\u2019s by no means an elite defender or rebounder, so taking the ball out of Murray\u2019s hands essentially ends his contribution.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

For Murray to help his team the way he had in the past, he has to find ways to create his own shot, no matter the defense. This is exactly what he\u2019s done this season.<\/p>\n

Murray Momentum<\/p>\n

The Denver Nuggets\u2019 entire starting lineup has missed significant time due to injuries<\/a>. Well, everyone except Jamal Murray.<\/p>\n

Denver needed him to step up amid a growing injury report and a slew of unusual rotations. He has done just that.<\/p>\n

Murray is putting up care<\/a>er-best<\/a> regular season marks in points, assists, and rebounds per game on splits of 26-7-4. a game. He is also having a career year percentage-wise, shooting over 43% from three and 48% overall.<\/p>\n

The only other times Murray produced similar numbers as this year were in the 2020 and 2023 playoffs.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Clearly, Jamal Murray is already in playoff form. With the way he\u2019s been hooping, another slump like the past two postseasons feels highly unlikely. Even the best defenses haven\u2019t fazed him, as he dropped 39 on the Thunder at the end of February. Not to mention, he also scored a whopping 53 points on the Mavericks on March 25th.<\/p>\n

Murray\u2019s Moment<\/p>\n

Nikola Joki\u0107 remains, without a doubt, the focal point of the Denver Nuggets. However, with how they use him, Jamal Murray may be just as valuable.<\/p>\n

Murray is the one bringing up the ball and running the pick and roll with Joki\u0107. He\u2019s the one they get the ball to at the end of games. With the 2023 or 2024 version of Murray, Denver has no shot this year, but with 2020 or 2023 Murray, they have as good a shot as anyone else.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

This is also arguably the best team the Nuggets have assembled in the Murray and Joki\u0107 era.<\/p>\n

They have shooters with Tim Hardaway Jr.<\/a> and Cameron Johnson<\/a>. Defensively, they are set with Christian Braun<\/a> and Aaron Gordon<\/a>. As for depth, Peyton Watson<\/a> and Bruce Brown<\/a> are huge bench contributors.<\/p>\n

Clearly, all the pieces are there, but they still need their star point guard to shine.<\/p>\n

The West remains loaded this year. The Thunder, Spurs, Rockets, Timberwolves, and Lakers could all make a run. But Nuggets fans have seen what can happen when Jamal Murray is at his best. They know he can take them the distance.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

So, as the playoffs rapidly approach, the NBA should be on high alert for Murray and the Nuggets.<\/p>\n

The post Nuggets Desperately Need \u201cPlayoff Jamal Murray\u201d to Win Another Ring<\/a> appeared first on The Lead<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the summer of 2023, the Denver Nuggets were on top of the NBA world, defeating the Miami…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":694645,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[877,375,7,6850,2726,561,559,125,187,864,762,423,938,300,185,189,307,6,253,179,1146,209,911,308],"class_list":{"0":"post-694644","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-aaron-gordon","9":"tag-anthony-edwards","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-bruce-brown","12":"tag-cameron-johnson","13":"tag-christian-braun","14":"tag-clippers","15":"tag-damian-lillard","16":"tag-denver-nuggets","17":"tag-donovan-mitchell","18":"tag-jamal-murray","19":"tag-jazz","20":"tag-kevin-durant","21":"tag-lakers","22":"tag-lebron-james","23":"tag-miami-heat","24":"tag-minnesota","25":"tag-nba","26":"tag-nikola-jokic","27":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","28":"tag-peyton-watson","29":"tag-shai-gilgeous-alexander","30":"tag-tim-hardaway-jr","31":"tag-timberwolves"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116337204564198677","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694644","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=694644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694644\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/694645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=694644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=694644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=694644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}