Jamal Murray Had Ice-Cold Response to Notion He Would Have Missed Game 6 With Illness

Murray had himself a flu game.
Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray on May 15, 2025.
Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray on May 15, 2025. / Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images

The Denver Nuggets narrowly escaped a second-round exit on Thursday night when they defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder 119–107, tying the pair's playoff series at 3-3. Nikola Jokic unsurprisingly led his team in scoring, dropping a helpful 29 points, though guard Jamal Murray also met the moment with 25 of his own.

And the Nuggets are lucky he did; Murray was listed as "questionable" going into the contest, having woken up that morning feeling a bit under the weather.

After the fact, though, the guard made clear he was going to be playing regardless.

Asked whether he ever considered sitting this one out, Murray quickly and succinctly shut that notion down with an ice-cold, two-word response: "Absolutely not."

Take a peek at that below:

Again, thank god he didn't. According to StatMuse, elimination games are .... kind of Murray's thing. In his career, he's averaging 27.8 points, 5 rebounds, and 5.2 assists in such scenarios, and is also the only player in NBA history to average 25/5/5 with a 40+ three-point shooting percentage when an exit's on the line. Whether his team wins those contests, well, that's another story. But it's clear the guard knows when to erupt on the hardwood.

We'll see if the Murray can work his magic yet again come Game 7, scheduled for Sunday at 3:30 p.m.


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Brigid Kennedy
BRIGID KENNEDY

Brigid Kennedy is a contributor to the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI in November 2024, she covered political news, sporting news and culture at TheWeek.com before moving to Livingetc, an interior design magazine. She is a graduate of Syracuse University, dual majoring in television, radio and film (from the Newhouse School of Public Communications) and marketing managment (from the Whitman School of Management). Offline, she enjoys going to the movies, reading and watching the Steelers.