I often hear Jamal Murray compared to Steph Curry and Damien Lillard, two of the league’s best shooting point guards. I like both of those comparisons but one guy that I think you could throw into that mix is Kyrie Irving. Like Irving, Murray has great touch around the basket and the ability to pull up off of the dribble. Murray isn’t as quick as Kyrie and he doesn’t have the same speed with his dribble but he is crafty and skilled and puts some of those herky-jerky combos together that look so smooth.
Murray faced up against Kyrie tonight and while he failed to keep the Celtics point guard in check, he was able to go toe-to-toe with him on the other end of the floor. Murray was awesome all night, pouring in 28 points including 12 in the fourth quarter. Murray competed like crazy all night and while the team came up short, you can’t really place the loss on Murray’s shoulders, no matter how hard he was on himself post-game.
“Gary put up amazing numbers. I just feel like the turnovers cost us and I had five of them. So I feel like I put that on myself. Especially being a point guard and trying to be the leader of the team, that can’t happen. I feel like I put us in a difficult situation with that. Just a little too late at the end.”
You love to hear Murray unhappy with the loss and not taking “moral victories” from a tough loss but us Nuggets fans can afford to be a lot less critical. Murray has been stepping up lately and looks like he gets better and more confident with very game. Check out the full highlights.
