PHOENIX – With a basketball game to be won, Nuggets guard Jamal Murray wrestled with his foolish pride. He lost because a strong man’s worst enemy can be his own stubborn ego.
Obsessed by a desire to prove himself the equal of Phoenix superstar Devin Booker, Murray not only got soundly beaten in one of those classic battles of one-upmanship that make pro basketball such compelling theater, Denver lost its ironclad grip on this playoff series.
“We expected a win,” Murray said late Friday, taking full responsibility for a 121-114 loss to the Suns. “I put that one on me.”
Well, give the feisty Nuggets guard credit for recognizing the problem.
Despite his team-high 32 points, the problem was Murray. He tried to do too much, bless his ever-defiant heart. He attempted to turn a team game into an individual duel against Booker.
It proved to be a losing proposition in Game 3 as Phoenix cut its deficit to 2-1 in the Western Conference semifinals. And it could be a mistake deadly to Denver’s championship aspirations going forward.
With everything from red-glaring rockets launched behind the three-point arc, to feathery mid-range jumpers, to slashing drives to the glass, Booker demonstrated why he simply has more tricks in his offensive bag than the supremely talented Murray.
Booker led the Suns to their first victory in the series, while scoring 47 points with ruthless efficiency, missing only five of his 25 field-goal attempts. In a league where we marvel at Luka Doncic and applaud Damian Lillard, there’s no guard more dangerous to underestimate than Booker.
“I don’t understand why this is such a surprise to everybody,” Suns forward Kevin Durant said. “He has been doing this since Day One.”
After getting burned by a deeper, more balanced Nuggets team in Denver, the Suns rose from the ashes of those disheartening defeats and the loss of veteran point guard Chris Paul to injury by picking up the tempo on their home floor and enjoying the show put on by Booker and Durant. Both barely took a breather on the Phoenix bench while combining for 86 points.
“We know what the problem is. Devin Booker and Kevin Durant are the two best players in the league right now who can create a shot,” said Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, whose MVP-worthy performance of 30 points, 17 rebounds and 17 assists wasn’t enough to overcome the Suns’ dynamic duo.
In a Denver showing Murray acknowledged was often “discombobulated” and Jokic noted was sometimes “sleepy,” Denver’s role players turned bashful with the basketball and Michael Porter Jr. was inexplicably ignored in halfcourt offensive sets until after the Suns built a 15-point halftime lead.
This is a trap the Nuggets cannot fall into if they want to survive. Turn this series into a game of two-on-two, with Jokic and Murray going against Booker and Durant, and I don’t particularly like the odds of Denver advancing to the Western Conference finals. Do you?
Now comes the hard part for Denver, not to mention a crucial teaching moment that will test the coaching mettle of Michael Malone.
As the Nuggets store their brooms back in the closet and get down to the real nitty-gritty of trying to eliminate the Suns, can Murray show the emotional intelligence to put his ego on the shelf?
He must summon the athletic maturity to be a point guard who gives up the ball in spots that can coax the best out of teammates from Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to Aaron Gordon, because it’s going to take more than hero ball for Denver to subdue the Suns.
“Jamal was really trying to carry the team,” said Malone, appreciative of his guard’s competitive spirit, before getting to a point that can’t be ignored when a player requires 29 shots to score 32 points.
“He’s garnering so much attention out there. And I think when we watch it on the film, he’ll be able to see it. He’s doing his job, but he’s got two defenders at times. And that’s when he just has to trust his teammates and maybe get off that ball, because I think a huge part of (Phoenix’s) game plan is to some way, somehow slow down Jamal Murray.”
Murray is a fighter by nature. And we love him for it. His fiery defiance in the NBA bubble is the stuff of Nuggets’ legend, and he stubbornly refused to let a nasty knee injury beat him.
When I suggested to Murray it’s a delicate balance between asking too much of himself and trusting his teammates to remove some of the burden, he bristled in the manner of a man who regards backing down from any challenge as a sign of weakness.
“It’s not about that. It’s about taking what the defense gives me and trying to make a play. It’s not about scoring every time. It’s sometimes about drawing two (defenders) and kicking,” said Murray, who has missed 14 of his past 15 attempts from 3-point range against Phoenix. “I’ve just got to be more locked in and more relaxed down the stretch.”
Winning a championship is the hardest thing Murray has ever attempted on a basketball court.
If he wants to beat the Suns and keep that dream alive, Murray must swallow his pride, distribute the ball, share responsibility and, maybe toughest of all, walk away from a fight with Booker.
Want more Nuggets news? Sign up for the Nuggets Insider to get all our NBA analysis.
