Lakers News: Jamal Murray Wants His Flowers As Denver Leads LA 2-0 In WCF
Denver Nuggets point guard Jamal Murray has stepped up his game to bubble postseason-levels of excellence in the 2023 playoffs.
He has elevated his play of late against your Los Angeles Lakers, whom Denver leads 2-0 in the Western Conference playoffs, with the series arriving in LA for the first time tonight.
Through the series' first two contests, Murray averaged 34 points on .523/.455/.923 shooting splits, 7.5 rebounds, five assists, 3.5 steals and 0.5 blocks.
Still, he feels that he's been a bit forgotten in the conversation of current NBA greats.
“I don’t think I get enough respect as I should be,” Murray said. “I’m better than a lot of players in the league. Every time I see rankings of guys I think, ‘Man, that is crazy.’ Maybe it’s because I have been out for so long. But if we win the (championship), it changes everything.”
After his turn in the bubble, the 6'3" guard out of the University of Kentucky was expected to become at least a fringe All-Star contender for years to come.
That hasn't materialized just yet, due in part to the extended injury absence to which he's alluding.
Murray, 25, is referring to an ACL tear he incurred in April 2021, which forced him to miss those playoffs as well as the entire 2021-22 NBA season. He was somewhat inconsistent this season in Denver as a scorer, but seemed to be on the mend. Now, he seems to have fully rediscovered what made him so special in 2020.
Head coach Michael Malone took things further in his Game 2 postgame presser, noting that he felt Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, the two-time MVP, was also under-appreciated.
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