The Denver Nuggets narrowly escaped a second-round exit on Thursday night when they defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder 119–107, tying the pair's playoff series at 3-3. Nikola Jokic unsurprisingly led his team in scoring, dropping a helpful 29 points, though guard Jamal Murray also met the moment with 25 of his own.
And the Nuggets are lucky he did; Murray was listed as "questionable" going into the contest, having woken up that morning feeling a bit under the weather.
After the fact, though, the guard made clear he was going to be playing regardless.
Asked whether he ever considered sitting this one out, Murray quickly and succinctly shut that notion down with an ice-cold, two-word response: "Absolutely not."
Take a peek at that below:
Again, thank god he didn't. According to StatMuse, elimination games are …. kind of Murray's thing. In his career, he's averaging 27.8 points, 5 rebounds, and 5.2 assists in such scenarios, and is also the only player in NBA history to average 25/5/5 with a 40+ three-point shooting percentage when an exit's on the line. Whether his team wins those contests, well, that's another story. But it's clear the guard knows when to erupt on the hardwood.
We'll see if the Murray can work his magic yet again come Game 7, scheduled for Sunday at 3:30 p.m.
