This version of Jamal Murray could swing the NBA playoffs

From Michael PinaApril 30, 1:04 p.m. UTC • 5 min

David Adelman did the smartest thing with a little more than three minutes in game 5 and the Denver Nuggets, which maintain a 12-point lead: he played a piece for Jamal Murray. The entire campaign only lasted about five seconds, but even in this tiny frame there was a whole night with back and forth brilliance.

The possession began by hugging Kris Dunn Murray's waist on the right elbow, where the Nuggets Point Guard was waiting for Nikola Jokic to overturn and set a screen. As soon as it came, he accelerated on the opposite wing, where Aaron Gordon waited to give him the ball.

The Los Angeles Clippers, who had already made almost every defensive option available at this time, decided to guard the piece directly. Dunn became Murray's shadow, remained around Jokic's choice and then withdrawn Gordon's body on the dribble handoff. Although Murray could not win an edge when turning the corner when he finally got the ball, he was unable to gain an advantage.

He took a hard drive to the edge and tried to change his speed to throw Dunn off the fragrance. No cubes. One of the most stubborn on-ball defenders of the NBA remained draped over the left side of Murray's body, with Kawhi Leonard now lurking in the Strongside corner. Murray took two more dribble and then changed the course and planted his left foot onto the block before turning back in the other direction. Dunn was officially rejected and Murray was able to breathe for a short moment.

But nothing is easy against the clipper. When Murray began to refuse, Ivica Zubac reacted to what happened, Gordon fell and fell his massive body towards Murray's Fallaway. The ball stayed in his hands for about half a second longer than normally and only left its fingertips at the beginning of his relegation. Doesn't matter. The shot went in, Murray scored his 40th point of the game, Ty Lue Timeout, and the Nuggets took the lead in an incredibly close series in the first round.

During the entire Pivotal Game 5 On Tuesday, the Clipper Brain Trust tried everything to slow Murray. None of this worked against a player whose production in the first four games in the series was relatively tame. At the end of a performance that can now be tackled on a holy list of Murray games, the most dangerous X factor in the NBA had broken one of its stubborn defense.

Murray's last statistics from victory 131-115 says a lot: 43 points, seven templates, five rebounds, three steals and only one sales. He ended the 17: 26 of the field and 8-against-14 behind the arch for a 281.3 real shooting share. But How Murray dominated even more. At various points, the Clipper did not put him on him, asked Leonard to close him, and also gave Derrick Jones Jr. a shot. They flashed the Murray-Jokic pick-and-roll and went small with switches to force certain isolation. They directed it twice at the beginning of the second and fourth quarter when Jokic was on the bench. They changed the matchups and laid Zubac on Russell Westbrook, hoping that he could roam and stay away from Murray's anger. Everything made sense. None of this was effective.

If you take into account the production, the countless reporting and the undeniable pressure to win a decisive showdown against a team, it is as good as built -up To make Murray's life unhappy, it was the most impressive and most important game that a player had in this off -season. (Not to become too shaky, but Murray's playing point and “Dre in game 5 were both the highest playoffs so far.)

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What makes this show particularly remarkable is Los Angeles's defense strategy at the beginning of the game. Lue and Jeff van Gundy clearly wanted to disturb Murray's individual criminal offense and flash him off every ball screen. It reminded me of something that an NBA coach told me a few years ago: essentially – in his view, while he fully recognized Jokics Greatnes – Murray is the head of Denvers Snake. If you restrict his touch, suppress his attempts at the shooting and let him make him a ball, the tactical landscape of the game shifts in its favor. It is one of the few examples this season when the Clippers performed an intelligent defensive schedule just to see how their opponent has the armpits.

When asked about the game to Las slow start in the first quarter, Lue was not complicated. “The hard start was Jamal Murray,” he said. “I thought he had become aggressive what we knew. So we started a flash against him to slow him down. We knew in game 5 that he would come out aggressively, and he made every shot. We did everything. We flashed it, we fell, we changed, we made many different covers, but he had a hell.”

Denver reacted to this print with various off-ball actions like this flare screen to get rid of Murray:

It was the type of display that makes everything else seem in the NBA. When Murray has it Really With a PEP in his step and zero physical restrictions there is an inevitable aura that surrounds the nuggets. Your shortcomings become an irrelevant subplot and you look unbeatable.

The big question now is how often it can crush so often, be it against the Clippers, the Oklahoma City Thunder or another team in the league. The nuggets do not need 40-point hay manufacturers of Murray to win basketball games, but they need it to look like the strength he was two years ago if they wanted to win a championship. Murrays 43 points have been most since the bladder; He had not scored at least 40 points in 2023 since game 2 of the first round of Denver against Minnesota Timberwolves. The man triggers lava when he is healthy.

Depth problems remain. The shoulder of Michael Porter Jr. and the Gordon calf prevent this team from being his absolute self. But when Murray cooks as in game 5, wipes out every adaptation, drills almost every jump shot and accelerates almost every time Diever needs a bucket, it is difficult to say something else.

Michael Pina

Michael Pina is a manager of the wrestler who covers the NBA.