How Jamal Murray’s journey to the NBA Finals mirrors those of Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Stephen Curry

DENVER — The rote responses are part of the reality here at the NBA Finals, as players and coaches, mere days from their life’s goal, field question after question they’d rather be ignoring.

But this question — the second to Jamal Murray on Saturday, after so many to others about the pick and roll, would-be adjustments, and so on — felt different. This one was about a journey, not a series. About the man at the podium as much as the player he will or won’t be for the rest of this series. 

“You were in Medellin for Basketball Without Borders in 2019,” a reporter said. “That young man was carefree, happy-go-lucky. You’ve lived through some things since then.”

Unsaid, but understood, was the devastating injury in 2021 that sidelined Murray for more than a season.

“What would you have told that young Jamal Murray in 2019,” the reporter asked, “and could he have expected anything that you told him about your experience?”

Murray seemed to think for a moment, more deeply than he would on the questions that would follow. 

Much had happened to him in those years: The slow, steady rise to NBA success, and then toward NBA greatness. The 2020 loss in the bubble’s Western Conference finals to the eventual-champion Los Angeles Lakers. And then the ACL tear in the 2021 playoffs that cost Murray the entire 2022 season, and his team’s chances until his return last October.

“Just to stay with it,” he said thoughtfully. “You know, life is going to happen. Stuff is going to happen. Just got to keep the mental fortitude to bounce back in whatever it is, and stay strong. ‘This, too, shall pass.'”

Those things have passed, but in doing so have helped mold Murray into perhaps one of the game’s most important players. If he is great in the games ahead, the Denver Nuggets will likely be champions. If he is not — and there are, of course, many other variables — perhaps the Miami Heat finds life. 

Regardless, the mental fortitude and toughness that the Nuggets have had to display to get here are mirrored by the traits Murray has had to master….


Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/how-jamal-murrays-journey-to-the-nba-finals-mirrors-those-of-michael-jordan-lebron-james-and-stephen-curry/

Author : Bill Reiter

Publish date : 2023-06-03 21:50:04

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