Larry O’Brien Legends, Part 3: Jokić and Murray Pop the Bubble

In light of the potential end of the best duo in Nuggets history, let’s remember how Nikola Jokić and Jamal Murray established themselves as a duo to be feared after years of living under the radar. Heading into the 2019-20 season, the Nuggets had seemingly turned the corner. In the previous season, the Nuggets had finally established themselves as a real threat after a couple years of being the “nerds’ favourite team”, for lack of a better term. Jokić actually finished 4th in MVP voting in 2019, but I bet you remember Paul George and Joel Embiid’s 2019 seasons before you remember Jokić. Murray on the other hand wasn’t anywhere near MVP discussions. He was 21 and considered one of the best players to not make an all star game, but Victor Oladipo and Kemba Walker were making all star games over him. If you were a hardcore NBA fan, you knew the Nuggets had something. But if you were a casual and you were watching, oh I don’t know, ESPN, then you wouldn’t know what Denver was brewing. Despite their progress as a team, they were heavily overshadowed by the two California-based Goliaths. The Lakers traded for AD to pair him up with LeBron, while the Clippers signed reigning Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard and traded for Paul George. It was seen as a formality we would get the Battle of LA in the conference finals. To be fair, that’s how it played out in the regular season, but Denver managed to stay right behind them. Going into the bubble playoffs, they were met by the Utah Jazz. The Jazz had their own big-man-scoring guard duo on the rise, but this series is forever defined by the legendary duel between Jamal Murray and Donavon Mitchell. In all of NBA history, only 8 players have multiple 50-point playoff games in their entire career (keep in mind, this is something LeBron and Kareem have not done). Out of those 8 players, only 5 of them have done it twice in the same playoff run. Of those 5, only 4 have done it in the same series. The first round series between the Jazz and Nuggets in 2020 is the only playoff series ever to contain 2 players who each had multiple 50-point games. Donavon Mitchell put up 57 in a loss in game 1 and 51 in a game 4 win to put the Jazz up 3-1 in the series. Jamal Murray put up 50 in that same game 4 and proceeded to put up 42 and 50 in games 5 and 6 respectively. That’s 47 ppg average over 3 playoff games. Game 7 would be much lower scoring as both Murray and Mitchell struggled mightily, luckily, the Nuggets still had Jokić. Against the reigning DPOY, Jokić put up 30 and 14 on great efficiency and hit the game-winning bucket with less than 30 seconds remaining to complete the 3-1 comeback. The story was great, but now Denver had to deal with the Clippers. As I’m sure you can imagine, LA was a heavy favourite, especially when they built up their own 3-1 lead on the Nuggets. Jokić was having basically no problems, aside from a rough game 1. Murray on the other hand had successfully been contained by the Clippers. With the Lakers dominating the Rockets on the other side, the Battle of LA looked even more inevitable. The Nuggets proceeded to win game 5 on the back of their star duo and contributions from Paul Millsap. Then Jokić exposed Doc Rivers’ horrible defensive game plan (just sticking 1 guy on Jokić) and put up 34, 14 boards and 7 assists z Finally, in game 7, Murray found his game once again. Jokić ran the show, finishing with 16, 22 and 13 while Murray put up 40 to seal up another 3-1 comeback. The 2020 Nuggets became the only team in NBA history to overcome 2 separate 3-1 deficits in the same playoff run and they did it on the back of the Jokić-Murray pairing. A pair that outperformed both Kawhi and George when everybody counted them out. The Nuggets went on to lose to the Lakers in the conference finals in 5, but of course, the Nuggets got their revenge 3 seasons later by sweeping the Lakers in the conference finals on their way to Denver’s first ever championship. 2023 was the crowning achievement for this pairing. 2020 was their ascension. They went from a couple only nerds spoke of in their bedrooms to one that teams woke up in a cold sweat before playing. No matter what happens from here, they will forever be Larry O’Brien Legends whose legacy began in a bubble.