Jamal Murray turned into the hero for the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday during their Game 2 win over the San Antonio Spurs in their first round playoff series, and he’s crediting his coach and teammates for believing in him.
Murray went 8/23 and missed all six of his 3-point attempts in the team’s Game 1 loss. It seemed like more of the same in Game 2 as he began the game by missing all eight of his shots through the first three quarters. Then the fourth quarter came around and everything changed. Murray made 8 of his 9 shots in the fourth and helped carry the Nuggets to a 114-105 win.
In a postgame interview with NBATV’s Dennis Scott, Murray credited coach Mike Malone and his teammates for telling him to keep shooting.
“He believed in me the whole game,” Murray said of Malone. “Even when I was playing horrible, he told me to keep shooting, keep being aggressive. The fourth quarter is where players are made. I just want to be aggressive, and I love to score in the fourth.”
Murray also said his teammates told him to keep shooting.
Malone shared after the game why he stuck with Murray through a tough night.
Beautiful sentiment from Nuggets coach Michael Malone on why he stuck with Jamal Murray despite rough first three quarters in Game 2 win over Spurs: "I knew in my heart he needed to get these minutes. I needed to show him I believed him." pic.twitter.com/Nrmaon5FYc
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) April 17, 2019
Despite being down in the third quarter, Denver stayed confident and pulled out an important win. The series now heads to San Antonio for Game 3 on Thursday with things tied 1-1.
