Jamal Murray is used to being the underdog in the postseason

Jamal Murray and the Denver Nuggets are the heavy underdog in the Western Conference Semifinals against the Oklahoma City Thunder, but Murray is not phased by the perception of the team

BY TRENT FINNEGAN

May 7, 2025, 10:29 AM Updated: 10:39 am

Follow on Google News

Watch: Nuggets trade Watson — Is the Championship window closing? | Stokley and Evans with Mark Schlereth | 9 mins

Jamal Murray and the Denver Nuggets are facing an uphill battle in the Western Conference Semifinals as they take on the Oklahoma City Thunder. Despite taking Game 1 on the road in thrilling fashion, the NBA world still isn’t putting much faith in the Nuggets to make the Western Conference Finals for the third time in six years.

According to oddsmakers, the Nuggets are still heavy underdogs in the series even with the win in Game 1, as their odds to advance currently sit at +260. For Wednesday’s Game 2, the Nuggets are bigger underdogs than they were for the series-opener when they were at a massive rest disadvantage compared to the Thunder.

For Murray, this isn’t the first time he’s been in this position, and he’s not bothered by it.

“No one ever expects us to win,” Murray said at practice on Tuesday. “For years it’s been the same. We just deal with it and go do our thing and be ready to play. No one expects us to win, though. Ever.”

The Nuggets are underdogs in this series after being so against the LA Clippers in the first round. However, they were favorited in both of their playoff series a year ago and were favored in three of the four series they played during their run to the championship in 2023 (Phoenix was a slight favorite in the West Semis). While the national media might not take them as seriously as the oddsmakers, Murray is looking at this series against OKC just like the rest of them.

Despite being the underdog in the series, Murray attributed the importance of having chemistry and playoff experience, which could play as and advantage for the Nuggets. Denver’s core of Murray, Nikola Jokic, Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter Jr. have been together since the 2021 Trade Deadline, and have played three full seasons with each other. They’ve lost a lot of tough playoff games, but they’ve also won a lot of tough playoff games and a championship.

“I’ve yet to see a team that just comes together and wins,” Murray said before talking about the importance of knowing his teammates on a personal level.

“Having that kind of personal relationship I think is super underrated and has given us a lot of experience to win certain games.”

While Denver may not have the depth or the same regular season achievements as the Thunder do, hence the reason why they’re the underdog in this series, the fact that they’ve been in this position before with this group of players (mostly) is the reason why they’ll always have a better chance of winning than what the national media and oddsmakers give them credit for.

And that Jokic guy. He’s pretty decent at basketball.