Highly flammable: Nuggets' Jamal Murray can catch fire in an instant

Growing up, Jamal Murray woulddream of making clutch plays on basketball’s biggest stage. Manykids do this, imagining themselves hitting big shots with the gameor season on the line.

But unlike most kids, Murraygets to turn his fantasy into reality. And just as he envisionedit, he's playing his best basketball in the postseason andconsistently putting the Denver Nuggets on his back when the teamneeds him most.

In Denver's Game 2 win over theLos Angeles Lakers, Murray finished with 37 points, 10 rebounds, 6threes, 5 assists and 4 steals. But it was his fourth-quartercontributions that stood out. In the final period, Murray eruptedfor 23 points and drained four threes, while shooting 86% from thefield, 80% from deep and 87.5% from the free-throw line.

“When I was little, I used tocount down the seconds off the shot clock and make the shot andtalk like Marv Albert and talk like Mike Breen, just theimagination running [wild] as a kid. When you get in that momentand you see your fam in the crowd, see your little brother, seeMike Breen there, all these little reminders, they all paydividends and make that moment a little more special, and just kindof lock you back in. You don't want to miss thatopportunity…

“Playing in the WesternConference Finals against the Lakers and LeBron James, it's anamazing opportunity, and it's something you're going to look back[on] in history and remember for the rest of your life. I justtried to make the most of it, and it's fun when you've got it goinglike that in the fourth.”

To say that Murray "got it goingin the fourth" would be a massive understatement.Murray put together one of the mostdominant fourth-quarter performances in recent NBAhistory.

Throughout Murray’s playoffcareer, he’s dropped 20+ points in the fourth quarter on fourdifferent occasions, which is the most of any NBA player over thelast 25 years. The only other players with multiple 20-pointplayoff fourth quarters over that span are Michael Jordan (two) andAllen Iverson (two).

What makes Murray’s play downthe stretch even crazier is the fact that he was having arelatively quiet game through the first three quarters, with only14 points on 5-of-17 shooting from the field.

Then, he caught fire andcouldn’t miss.

“He's had a few games like thatthis year where he struggles in the first half and then just goescrazy in the second half,” Nuggets wing Michael Porter Jr. said. “Ithink that just takes maturity as a player. And I feel like all thebest players in the league do that, because it only takes a coupleshots going in to get a rhythm. He knows we need him to make shotsdown the stretch to win games, so I was proud of him for stickingwith it.”

“He was special. He won us thegame,” Nuggets center Nikola Jokic added. “I think he was amazing.Yes, maybe in the first half he struggled to make shots, but whenit mattered the most, he made shots and he won us the gamebasically.”

Murray explained his mindsetentering the fourth quarter.

“For those who have seen me playbefore, after a shooting half like that, I normally like to reset,come back down, reset my mind, quick little meditation in my headand just come back out focused,” Murray said. “I missed my firstcouple coming out and had some really good looks. The game would'vebeen a lot easier if I made them the first half. Just come outfocused and knock them down, don't lose any confidence or anythinglike that. Just play my game and know they're going to fall if Ikeep shooting them… Once you see a couple go in, it can get itrolling. I was able to just find a little separation and just riseup over the top and make some shots.

“Sometimes I need to settle thehell down, and sometimes I need to rile myself up. It just dependson what's needed in the game. Tonight, I just had to just resetcompletely. The first half, the second-half three that I had, thewide-open one, I alligator-armed it. It shows me that I'moverthinking it, and there's no reason for me to overthink an openshot. Once I missed that one and I came up short in the mid-range,[I knew] I've got to settle down even more. I'm overthinking aboutthe shot too much. It's all mental practice. I've been having badhalves and crazy second halves the rest of my life. I know how tochange it, I know what to adjust. I want to put together a goodfour quarters.”

Nuggets head coach MichaelMalone pointed out that it doesn’t take much for Murray to gethot.

“We all know one thing aboutJamal, man: he just has to see one go in,” Malone said. “He got alittle mid-range pull-up to go in and kind of looked up to theheavens. That's all he needs, and after that, he's shooting into ahula hoop.”

Murray agreed with thissentiment, and explained why he’s able to catch fire soquickly.

“It just becomes a practiceshot, whatever shot you take. I practice all the shots that you seeme make and take,” he explained. “You could be shooting in a spotin practice and you miss four or five, six in a row, and then allof a sudden, you just lock in and you take a step back, you reset,you refocus and you go back and make 10 in a row like it's nothing.It's just about resetting your mind. It's all mental, in myopinion. I was able to do that again tonight.”

LeBron James didn’t have anyissues with how the Lakers defended Murray in the fourth quarter.Instead, he gave the 26-year-old credit for hitting some difficultshots.

“He made shots. He made shots atthe end of the clock when we guarded for 24 seconds, and he madetwo big-time shots, one over AD and one over myself,” James said.“[He] had his mid-range game going. But he had his three-point shotgoing in the fourth. It's no surprise to anybody, he's done itbefore. Hate to be on the other side of it.

“But I don't feel like we hadmany breakdowns when he was doing what he was doing. He made shots,and sometimes it's a make-or-miss league. I feel like defensively,we were really good. They shot 43% [which we’ll take] for the No. 1offense in the league, and so it just sucks that those five threesin the fourth definitely killed us.”

This postseason, Murray isaveraging 27.2 points, 6.2 assists, 5.5 rebounds, 3.2 threes and1.6 steals per game on efficient 47.1/40.8/.91.7 shootingsplits.

Murray missed the entirety ofthe 2021-22 season due to a torn ACL, and he had to watch from thesidelines as the Nuggets lost to the Golden State Warriors in thefirst round of last year's playoffs. He would ultimately besidelined for 18 months, and Coach Malone is proud of how Murraybattled adversity and came back better than ever.

“It's so rewarding. This is notjust coach-and-player [relationship]. I love Jamal Murray. This is not just like I'mcoaching him,” Malone explained. “We've been together seven yearsand been through a lot of ups and downs, and to see him backplaying at the level he's playing at, the first thought for me isjust tremendous pride and just so happy for him. Because I saw thedark days coming back from that ACL. For him to be here playing at the level thathe's playing at is just... I'm just so happy for the young man. Heneeds to continue to do that. Obviously, our goal is not done. Wehave to win this series. Our goal is to win a championship, andhe's going to be a big part of that.”

The Nuggets are now two winsaway from making their first NBA Finals appearance in franchisehistory. While much of the conversation about this series hascentered around the Lakers, Murray and his teammates aren’tsurprised.

“The outside noise is theoutside noise. We're the Denver Nuggets; we're used to that,”Murray said. “Even when we win, they talk about the other team…Same old, same old. It fuels us a little more and will be sweeterwhen we win the chip.”