Jamal Murray's 30-Point Game 1 Was 'Tiring' for Anthony Edwards

The Denver Nuggets took care of business on their home floor on Saturday, kicking off their first-round series against the Minnesota Timberwolves with a 116-105 win. All-Star point guard Jamal Murray has always been known as a playoff riser, and his Game 1 performance did not disappoint.

Murray finished with 30 points, five rebounds, and seven assists, and even though his shot was not falling, shooting just 7-22 from the field and 0-8 from three-point range, he got to the free-throw line to shoot a perfect 16-16. Even when cold, Murray found ways to impact the game at a high level, and Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards is already tired of it.

After Game 1, Edwards admitted that defending Murray was "tiring," with all of the ways Denver's offense gets him involved.

"Yeah, it's really tiring chasing him around," Edwards said about defending Murray. "He's in like every action. The first DHO don't work, it's another DHO coming, then there's a pindown coming for him. So, yeah, they've got a lot of tricks up their sleeve when it comes to getting him the ball and getting him off of people who pressure him."

Murray is just as involved in the Nuggets' offense as three-time MVP Nikola Jokic, and their two-man game is virtually unstoppable at times. After playing together for nine years, the two stars have learned how to play off each other to a T, and it will certainly continue to be a problem for the Timberwolves for the rest of this series.

Murray and Jokic dominate Game 1

On top of Murray's impressive performance, Jokic finished with 25 points, 13 rebounds, and 11 assists on 11-19 shooting from the field. If these two continue to play like this, the Timberwolves will not have many answers. However, Edwards knows his guys will have to be more ready moving forward, and they will be prepared to change some things up if they need to.

"They've got a good scheme for him, but we've got a couple different guys we can throw at him. But he did a good job tonight. He played well," Edwards said about Murray.

If the Timberwolves knew Murray was going to shoot 0-8 from beyond the arc heading into Game 1, they likely would have assumed they were walking out with an upset win. Of course, getting to the charity stripe 16 times certainly helped, as he made two more free throws than the entire Timberwolves team.

Jamal Murray in Game 1 vs Minnesota:

30 PTS
5 REB
7 AST
16-16 FT

Made more FTs than the entire Timberwolves team combined. pic.twitter.com/JIxAsMzqUp
— StatMuse (@statmuse) April 18, 2026

"We expected it to be a game like this," Edwards said about the free-throw discrepancy. "... We knew how it was gonna go. Yeah, they're gonna get foul calls, and we might get none. ... [Murray] show, what, how many free throws did he shoot? 16-16 from the free-throw line. So, I mean, that helped them a lot."

The Nuggets shot just 28% from three-point range as a team. For the best three-point shooting team in the NBA, a poor shooting night is typically a recipe for disaster. Fortunately, the Nuggets showed off their resiliency, pulling out a double-digit win to start their playoff run on a high note.

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