Jamal Murray makes history with ultimate flurry to knockout Lakers

DENVER—Jamal Murray had one healthy leg and one determined mission, willing the Denver Nuggets to victory and making history with a deja vu moment.

Murray’s arrow once again pierced the Los Angeles Lakers, this time sending them home for good. The Canadian guard became the first player in NBA history to hit two game-winning shots in the same series with less than five seconds left. He followed up Game 2’s buzzer-beater with a one-legged mid-ranger to push Denver ahead to Round 2.

The one leg Murray jumped off of was supposed to keep him out of Monday’s game. He was on the injury report as questionable due to a left calf strain. Hobbled late in Game 4, Murray cut his warmup for Game 5 short. Wearing a heavy wrap pregame and then some padding during the contest, it was clear Murray was not 100%.

“I came (to the arena) earlier today to see if I could go and I felt like I could,” Murray said. “They (the staff) didn’t want me to risk it. They told me no, they told me no. I didn’t say no. I didn’t want to leave my teammates out there, we’ve been battling all season and everyone is hurt at some point and everyone is going through something. I just wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I wasn’t able to play this game… I’m just glad they listened to me and I listened to my body, and trusted me with it.”

The one leg he hopped off for the shot to end the Lakers season—his left.

The one leg he lifted off from to dunk on LeBron James in a knotted game in the fourth quarter—his left.

“For Jamal to add to his playoff lore by having two game-winners in a series is just incredible,” Michael Malone said postgame. “The conversation before the game was an emotional one. As he just told me, ‘I’m glad I played because I don’t know if we win if I don’t play tonight.’ That was the understatement of the year.”

On a night the superstar Nikola Jokic made more history by going for 25 points, 20 rebounds and nine assists and their triplet Michael Porter Jr. added 26 it was Murray who was the catalyst.

The Blue Arrow was responsible for 23 of Denver’s 27 points in the fourth quarter. His final-period flurry included 12 points and four assists. All of it was capped by Murray’s second shot to beat the Lakers at the horn for the team’s second time in two years to get to the second round and take on the Timberwolves for a second time in two seasons.

“It was a mutual decision, it was something we knew we had to be on the same page with,” Malone said. “Not only Jamal and the team’s best interests, he was able to play, he was able to win the game and he didn’t get hurt so it was a great night all the way around.”

With Reggie Jackson and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope also dealing with leg injuries, letting the series get back to Los Angeles for a Game 6 would’ve introduced an element of anything can happen. Murray’s mission on this night was to finish the job so that he could get the rest he probably should’ve been getting already. But that’s not Jamal, nor is it Jamal to get it done easy. It was 28 shots for 32 points—a rough night on defense as the Lakers took advantage of his bum leg. And yet it’s Murray who lasted the longest and threw the final and most forceful punch.

That’s just who Jamal is.

Murray is not an All-Star. Murray is not a lot of things in fact.

What Jamal is—a champion, the face of New Balance shoes, a fighter and the bringer of some of the greatest playoff moments of the 2020s. In the last two years alone against the Lakers, he is guy who sent LeBron James home with a block and followed it up with a buzzer-beater over Anthony Davis.

That’s Jamal—one of the greatest second fiddles in NBA history, a man who lives in the shadow of Nikola Jokic’s sun but oftentimes it’s Murray who can eclipse for the most magical moments—something that happened twice for the Nuggets in the first round against the Lakers.