Jamal Murray scores 25 as Nuggets force Game 7 vs. Thunder

DENVER — The Thursday afternoon addition of Denver Nuggets star guard Jamal Murray to the injury report for Game 6 was a mere formality.

Murray was listed as questionable because of an illness he felt after waking up in the morning, but he never had any doubt he’d be in the starting lineup with the Nuggets facing elimination against the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder.

“Absolutely not,” Murray said after the Nuggets extended their Western Conference semifinals series and their season with a 119-107 win at Ball Arena.

Murray, as he has done so many times over the years with the Nuggets facing elimination, played a starring role. He had 25 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists, a pretty typical performance for him considering the circumstances.

“Jamal is just a different cat,” said Nuggets reserve wing Julian Strawther, who scored all 15 of his points in the second half, including eight during a tiebreaking 10-0 run late in the third quarter. “He’s wired differently. We know he’s one of the toughest guys in the league.”

The Nuggets are now 9-3 with Murray in the lineup when a loss would have eliminated them. He has averaged 27.6 points, 5.3 rebounds and 5.3 assists in those games, with another such opportunity coming in Sunday’s Game 7 in Oklahoma City.

“Obviously, it was a win-or-die situation for them, and they came out with a sense of urgency and jumped on us right away,” said Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who had 32 points and six assists. “If we want to get a dub next game, we can’t let that happen.”

It will be the seventh Game 7 for the Nuggets since 2019, the most in the NBA during that span, according to ESPN Research.

The Game 7 availability of Nuggets power forward Aaron Gordon, another core member of Denver’s title team two years ago, is in question after he exited late in the fourth quarter after feeling tightness in his left hamstring. He will be further evaluated Friday.

“I feel OK. We’ll see,” Gordon said. “I’m going to start the recovery process now and make sure I’m getting ready for Game 7.”

Murray underwent treatment all day Thursday, including receiving intravenous fluids, and wasn’t officially cleared to play until about 45 minutes before tipoff. He quickly answered any questions about his ability to perform under the circumstances, hitting an and-1 3-pointer for the Nuggets’ first basket and scoring 11 points in the opening quarter.

“He opened the game really good for us, and he set the tone, but I don’t think this [illness] affected him at all,” said Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic, who had another dominant performance with 29 points, 14 rebounds and 8 assists. “When you play the game, I think you don’t think about what you have or whatever is the problem.”

Murray played a game-high 42 minutes despite “everything kind of bothering me,” including having difficulty breathing at times. Denver outscored Oklahoma City by 28 points with Murray on the court, including an 11-point margin while he played the entire third quarter and the Nuggets seized control.

“Once the game starts, the team needs you and the adrenaline kicks in,” Murray said. “You see a couple of shots going in and you just suck it up and play through it.”

Nuggets interim coach David Adelman acknowledged that he was concerned about how much the illness would affect Murray. Those worries ended by the midway point of the first quarter.

“I kind of was watching the first six minutes [thinking], ‘Is this real? Can he do it?'” said Adelman, who celebrated his 44th birthday Thursday. “And I thought he had good energy and good juice. There was a couple of times where he really wanted to go back to get the ball. He was so gassed, having a hard time breathing. But that’s Jamal Murray. It’s almost like the worse it is, the better off it’s going to be. And what a tough-minded, tough-minded man.”