Jamal Murray ended the Lakers’ season after hitting a game-winner in Game 5 of their first-round matchup at Ball Arena. This was the second time in the series that Murray hit the nail in the Lakers’ coffin. In the first instance, he hit a game-winning buzzer-beater over Anthony Davis on an Iso, and in the recently concluded Game 5, he made a tough floating mid-ranger over Austin Reaves and Anthony Davis to seal the game and the series. Considering his heroics, the guard has drawn widespread praise for coming up big in crunch time. These heroics were even more impressive considering the fact that the guard has been battling a left calf strain and was even deemed “Questionable” by the medical staff for the Game 5 tilt.
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Skip Bayless also joined the chorus of people admiring the Nuggets PG after Game 5. On his “Undisputed” show, Bayless gave props to the clutch performer after he extinguished the Lakers’ effort despite a calf injury. The FS1 analyst also called out Anthony Davis for not showing a similar fire as Murray after he dislocated his shoulder while jostling for position against Aaron Gordon. According to the 72-year-old, Murray ignored the medical staff’s advice to sit out Game 5 and played through injury to rescue his squad. On the other hand, AD did the opposite.
“Jamal Murray was told by his medical staff that you can’t just risk it tonight. Let’s save you for next game. And he says, ‘I gotta be out there with my brothers because if I don’t go out there we will lose this game.’ And he was correct, they’d have lost without him,” Skip Bayless told Keyshawn Johnson and Paul Pierce.
On the contrary, for Bayless, AD didn’t “suck it up” like Murray and couldn’t elevate his squad in key moments. This criticism from Bayless comes despite the Lakers big man playing a career-high 76 games during the 2023-24 regular season and also showing up big in the postseason. However, a revved-up Jamal Murray overshadowed him in the series.
Jamal Murray is the Lakers’ kryptonite
The 27-year-old didn’t exactly dominate the Lakers’ defense for the most part. He shot below 40% in four of the five games and clicked on merely 29.4% of his shots from the three-point line, per StatMuse. Overall, the 6’4″ guard put up 23.6 points, 7.2 assists, 4.6 rebounds, and 1 block per game against the Lakers.
The perimeter defense of Austin Reaves and the help from Anthony Davis were too much for the Canadian athlete to handle at times. However, Murray came alive in the fourth quarter repeatedly. In the 108-106 Game 5 win, the Guard had his best performance. He lodged 32 points, including a 12-point eruption in the deciding quarter.
Murray also nailed a huge three off-the-catch with a minute left and then sank the game-winner over the Lakers’ best perimeter defenders. What makes the Nuggets star special is his ability to be effective both in iso situations and off the ball. Thus, the Lakeshow also had their hands full when the guard was cutting on the weak side with Nikola Jokic operating in the post.
His performances were a repeat of the 2023 WCF sweep when the PG buried the Lakers consistently in the clutch. Fast forward a year, and HC Darvin Ham still had no answer for him during the game-clinching moments.
