Jamal Murray sends the Suns and the Nuggets' skeptics a message

Chris Paul tried to send a message late in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s Game 1 between the Nuggets and Suns. His very intentional and borderline dirty shoulder check to Jamal Murray’s right side was theoretically supposed to be a reminder, a notice, a warning that would stick in the back of Denver’s mind heading into Game 2.

The only problem with Paul’s message was that it came too late. Jamal Murray had already delivered a more powerful, potent, and professional one 60 seconds earlier.

“We’re ready for this. We’ve been waiting for this.”

“We’re ready for this!” pic.twitter.com/UuShqNB8qQ

— Harrison Wind (@HarrisonWind) April 30, 2023

The Nuggets’ 125-107 Game 1 win was a lot of things. It was a vintage Denver team win that saw six different teammates score in double-figures. It was another strong showing from the Nuggets’ bench. It was a lights-out 3-point shooting performance — the Nuggets shot 16-37 (43.2%) — on a night where the Suns only went 7-23 from distance.

But most of all it was a statement win. It was the Nuggets telling the Suns and the rest of the NBA that like Murray said, they’re been waiting for this.

Kevin Durant? Devin Booker? Paul? Phoenix, who entering the playoffs was the favorite in the West? Denver isn’t intimidated, fazed, or the least bit scared. A Game 1 blowout may have surprised everyone who tuned in to watch Nuggets-Suns. But it didn’t surprise the players in the Nuggets’ locker room. This is what the Nuggets expected out of themselves after what they’ve already accomplished this season.

And they’re pissed that no one else saw it coming.

“We know what we’re capable of. We’re confident in what we can do. We’re confident in what we do,” Murray said after a dominant 34-point, 9-assist Game 1. “I’m tired of trying to defend ourselves up here like we haven’t been playing at this level all season. We’re going to keep doing what we’re doing and proving everybody wrong.”

That quote right there is a peek into the mindset that Murray’s operating with right now. Quite frankly, he’s playing this postseason with a massive chip on his shoulder. He sat back and took inventory of every negative narrative and take that was uttered about this team and him over the course of this season. Now, he’s using it as motivation.

If only they had Jamal Murray…#StepUpTime

What can we expect from 27 against the Phoenix Suns in Round 2?

We broke it down on yesterday’s show:https://t.co/07S3kA9zRA pic.twitter.com/PmE7zUxRPP

— DNVR Nuggets (@DNVR_Nuggets) April 29, 2023

Privately, Murray was ticked off about the first-round playoff storyline that Nickeil Alexander-Walker was bothering him defensively. It fueled him. And by the end of the Timberwolves series, Murray had buried that talking point. Throughout the entire season, Murray has been annoyed by the constant comparisons of this version of himself to the one that showed up in the 2020 playoffs. He viewed it as everyone putting a ceiling on the player he could get back to and that the guy who balled out in the bubble was some mythical, imaginary person. All of that conversation pissed him off.

He brought that same energy into Round 2.

“It says something to ya’ll. We know what we’re capable of,” Murray said in response to a question about if Denver’s Game 1 performance told the Nuggets anything about themselves. “You act like you’re surprised.”

He channeled it into a brilliant Game 1 performance that you could see coming if you observed Murray prior to tip-off. Murray took the floor for pregame warmups locked in and focused. Typically, Murray’s joking around with Aaron Gordon — who he shares a warmup slot with — and has a light-hearted nature about him during that time. But not before Game 1. He barely cracked a smile during his shooting session.

Murray kept that same all-business approach once the first quarter started. It was immediately clear that he was out for blood Sunday. He paced Denver with 10 first-quarter points. Murray had nine in the second quarter, 10 in the third, and another 10 in a fourth quarter where he drilled one heart-stopping shot after another. Every time that Phoenix went on a run, Murray stopped it in its tracks like he’s done so many times already in his playoff career.

He put on a jaw-dropping performance in front of a sold-out Ball Arena crowd that erupted at every one of his makes. Murray preyed on the Suns’ defense. He hunted Paul in the pick-and-roll. He might have made Landry Shamet unplayable for the rest of the series. He smirked at how Phoenix chose to guard him and took it as an insult. He wanted all the smoke.

A three part story. pic.twitter.com/hg8KQWumKv

— RG 📷 (@RyanGreeneDNVR) April 30, 2023

“Those moments, you dream of as a kid,” Murray said. “You try to reenact those in the backyard. Just counting down, or feeling the energy, or hitting a big shot and hearing the crowd that loud, you live for those moments and you want to make the most of those moments. I’ve been waiting for a while to be healthy and be back and playing at this level at this time of year. It just felt good to feel it.”

They say in the NBA that every team takes on the personality of their best player. Throughout the entire Jokic era, the Nuggets have embodied the back-to-back MVP’s spirit and selfless nature. This is an unselfish team-first organization because that’s who Jokic is. The Nuggets never care who gets the credit and recognition because those are principles that Jokic stands for.

But maybe in the playoffs, this team shifts more toward Murray’s mindset because the Nuggets look like they’re in a total ‘F U’ mode right now. They’re all playing with Murray’s fire and passion. They’re all playing like they’re pissed off. Everyone’s falling in line behind him.

“He’s our best player and we are following him right now,” Jokic said. “He’s bringing the energy, he’s bringing the toughness. Everybody’s following him.”

The Nuggets know this series is just getting started and that the Suns, with Durant, Booker, and Paul are too talented of a team to go down like this. Denver believes Phoenix will adjust and punch back and the Nuggets will try to anticipate the Suns’ Game 2 counter-strike as well as possible. As Murray walked off the floor after Game 1, he held up three fingers to the crowd signaling that Denver still has three more games to win.

Who knows how this series will turn out — although you have to feel some type of way about the Nuggets’ chances after that Game 1 — but I can guarantee you this: The Nuggets aren’t going to be pushed around by the Suns. Denver’s going to be the aggressor.

That’s unfortunate news for Paul and Phoenix because they clearly wanted to play that role. Paul wants to bully the Nuggets. He wanted to bully Murray and send some sort of lasting message with that fourth-quarter cheapshot that I guess he thought would linger and be something that the Nuggets would be thinking about in the lead-up to Monday’s Game 2.

But the problem is that Paul played right into the Nuggets and Murray’s hand. It only gave Denver more confidence and belief.

“If he’s doing that,” Murray said. “Then we’re doing something right.”