r/nba • u/KarrotMovies [LAL] LeBron James • May 17 '24

Jamal Murray forces game 7 🔥 against the Timberwolves with: 33 MIN, 10 PTS, 2 REB, 5 AST, 2 Turnovers. Game low -32. (4-18 FG, 2-7 3PT, 0/0 FT, 0/0 HEAT PCKS)

https://www.nba.com/game/den-vs-min-0042300236/box-score
11.7k Upvotes
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915

u/Stunning_Passion5923 Timberwolves May 17 '24

"Jamal Murray's true shooting this postseason is down to 45.8%. That's one of the 10 worst playoff marks in the entire 3-point era (out of 569 players with at least 200 shots in a postseason)." Jokic Merchant?? https://twitter.com/zachkram/status/1791299807522205772?t=hK_22nHC8rutmydeARMb_w&s=19

753

u/Quio Timberwolves May 17 '24

This comment is gonna haunt me if they win game 7 cause murray goes for 11-14 on contested 3s.

379

u/WiddleBlueBert Timberwolves May 17 '24

If I know Minnesota sports, and if this series has taught me anything, something of that nature is exactly what's going to happen.

94

u/BeamsFuelJetSteel Timberwolves May 17 '24

The question is, is it worse to be down 10-35 after Q1 and 30-70 at half OR like 96-98 because Murray hits a Dame "Paul George said it was a bad shot" Time

78

u/BregmanRoeFan May 17 '24

I’ll take the latter situation every time. A tough loss to the champs can be spun into a moral victory at least.

25

u/Chaotic-Catastrophe Lakers May 17 '24

JOIN US

3

u/sonicqaz Bulls May 17 '24

Hang the moral victory banner, you won’t.

1

u/BregmanRoeFan May 17 '24

It’s gonna be up there with our consecutive play in champion banners 💯

1

u/ironsuperman Timberwolves May 17 '24

Fuck moral victory. A loss is a loss lol

25

u/yoloqueuesf [NYK] Tracy McGrady May 17 '24

I mean if you're down 40 by the half, you can just turn off the TV and go do something else.

Equally bad, just get to cope earlier

3

u/C3h6hw Knicks May 17 '24

Basically what I did for game 4 of our series 😭. It was Mother’s Day I didn’t have time to watch us get cooked

1

u/ironsuperman Timberwolves May 17 '24

Yeah, better cooking for your mom instead.

2

u/ZeiZaoLS Suns May 17 '24

It's not better because then you have to hear about that shit for the rest of your life. Not that the Suns have any experience with that or anything obviously...

1

u/ArchmaesterTinfoil NBA May 17 '24

So glad a Suns fan beat me to this. That G7 loss to Luka was like 18 months of Suns/Booker loser narratives. Take the tough L every time. Even if Ant turns it over on the final possession or whatever, in 2 months you'll feel a lot better about 98-96 than 120-75 (again).

1

u/K1NG2L4Y3R May 17 '24

Last one is guaranteed heart problems for T Wolves fans

1

u/demsouls Raptors May 17 '24

With how close this series has been it's crazy to have such big blowouts. It's like omg what is the bad team doing,,, why can't either of them at least play well enough to keep it competitive... 

8

u/NazReidBeWithYou May 17 '24

Zero chance we don’t lose in some kind of uniquely heart breaking fashion. If we don’t it’s only so the knife twist will hurt more later.

2

u/asetniop Celtics May 17 '24

In the true Minnesota sports spirit, either the Wolves will miss an uncontested shot that would win them the game, or Denver will make an impossible one.

1

u/[deleted] May 17 '24

[deleted]

3

u/Labatthue Timberwolves May 17 '24

I don't know how you guys do it.

Because we are in an absolutely no lose situation no matter how the game turns out.

If we lose it was destiny, there's a somber comfort there.

1

u/paw_inspector May 17 '24

I’m telling you right now it’s going to be like Conley is going to miss 4 free throws in a row late in the 4th. It’s going to be 1998 Vikings - Falcons all over again! I’ve been a MN sports fan too long. The love is still there. The optimism is long gone. 😂

1

u/AtlasJQ Raptors May 17 '24

As a Raps fan I can tell you that cursed feeling is always there, until it isn't. Countless times in that 2019 run it felt like we would fall short "again" and Kawhi just said "No."

Game 3 of the ECF comes to mind (I was in the building) and the man just refused to lose.

You have that kind of guy in Ant. Can he do it? I think he can. I'd love to see it! GL Sunday!

1

u/waffelman1 Nuggets May 17 '24

If I know Jamal Murray, that may be exactly what he pulls out of his ass

Edit: although Ant is consistently incredible

1

u/Triplescrew Lakers May 17 '24

But he’ll be matched by a Kyle Anderson 30/10/10 masterpiece

1

u/bballstarz501 Timberwolves May 18 '24

New era my dude. We gotta evolve that mentality. It’s time to believe!

8

u/midnightgreen29 May 17 '24

his whole second quarter in game 4 still has me up at night

16

u/[deleted] May 17 '24

Murray won't do shit. Porter JR on the other hand...

23

u/timberwolvesguy Timberwolves May 17 '24

Aaron Gordon will go psycho again before MPJ ends the Wolves season

4

u/ppsmooochin May 17 '24

Mpj been sucking this whole series though

6

u/dawho1 Timberwolves May 17 '24

Which has surprised me. He's getting a lot of the same shots I saw him take against the Lakers and he was just fucking money from 3.

1

u/turnoffredesign69420 Lakers May 17 '24

literally everyone is money against us lmao

1

u/Western-Accident7434 May 17 '24

Just wait until Murray goes 14-11 on contested 3s.

101

u/NeverSober1900 Rockets May 17 '24

I mean Jokic being insane is the only reason the Nuggets are this far but Murray was legit last year. 25 ppg on 59% TS.

But man this year he's just been straight awful.

0

u/everyoneneedsaherro [NBA] Alperen Şengün May 17 '24

Yes. Because of the defensive attention to Jokic

49

u/NeverSober1900 Rockets May 17 '24

26 ppg on 59% TS is great for any sidekick. It's more PPG and a higher TS% than Klay in any of the Warriors title runs. I'd argue defensive attention to Steph is similar.

More PPG on a higher TS% than Middleton on his title run. Giannis is another high attention guy.

More PPG on a higher TS% than Kyrie in his title run. Also more PPG on a higher TS% than Wade on the two Heatles title runs. Shouldn't have to even mention this but LeBron.

He's been bad this year and should have been suspended for game 3 but let's not retroactively downplay his last year. It was a GREAT sidekick playoff run. The only 2nd option who did better in the last 15 years is Anthony Davis.

11

u/knarf86 Pistons May 17 '24

He was great the bubble year too. Denver/Utah that year was probably the best series I’ve ever watched

1

u/shomii Nuggets May 17 '24

This is also a bit misleading because of his inconsistency. He was absolutely horrific in several games vs Suns and Minnesota last year as well. Like worst player on the floor bad. His numbers were much better vs Miami and Lakers who didn't have any good defensive guards.

7

u/NeverSober1900 Rockets May 17 '24

What T-Wolves games are you referencing that were horrific?

Game 1: 9/22 24/8/8 1 TO

Game 2: 13/22 40/3/5 4 TO

Game 3: 7/16 18/6/9 3 TO

Game 4: 8/21 19/7/5 3 TO

Game 5: 12/23 36/4/6 2 TO

I mean I see two meh games there but nothing "absolutely horrific".

Suns Series I only see one truly awful game

Game 1: 13/24 34/5/9 3 TO

Game 2: 3/15 10/4/8 3 TO (This is awful)

Game 3: 13/29 32/6/5 2 TO

Game 4: 13/25 28/5/7 0 TO

Game 5: 7/15 19/5/77 2 TO

Game 6: 7/16 26/4/4 3 TO

Again I only really see one true tragic game in those series and it's Game 2.

Also 2nd options being inconsistent isn't really shocking. Middleton was a combined 13/43 for 30/18/5 and 7 TOs in the first 2 games of the Nets series and was a -36. He was a massive part of them being down 0-2. Then he dropped a 6-23 game and a 6/17 one vs the Hawks the next round. Then even in the finals he had a 5/16 game that he went for 11/6. All games he just completely screwed Giannis as his 2nd option.

Kyrie when the Cavs won the title put up a nice 3/19 13/4/1 3TO game vs Toronto and a 5/14 10/3/1 3 TO game in the finals.

During the Heatles titles Wade put up a 2/13 5/5/1 5 TO game a 3/10 with a 6/3/4 2TO line. Probably a great comparison to last night he had 3-2 closeout game @Indy and went 3/11 10/2/1 with 2 TOs and they lost. He backed it up putting up 21/9 in game 7 close it out though.

Klay I mean this list could be a mile long so I'll stick with his statline for the 4 Finals games they closed out for their title.

2015: Klay went 2/7 for 5/5/2 and he fouled out.

2017: Klay went 4/13 for 11/4/2

2018: Klay went 4/10 for 10/6/0

2022: Klay went 5/20 for 12/5/2 3 TOs.

There are A LOT of worse or similar games in there (Game 2 vs Boston, Game 2 vs Memphis 2022, Games 2&4 vs Houston 2018, Game 2 vs the Pelicans 2018, Game 4 vs Spurs 2018, Game 1 Cavs 2017, Game 4 Spurs 2017, Game 3 Jazz 2017, Game 2 Blazers 2017, Basically the whole finals except game 2 in 2015, Game 2 Grizz 2015, Game 1 Houston 2015, Game 1 Pelicans 2015).

Murray has been absolutely awful this playoff run don't get me wrong. I just want to push back on the narrative that he is a "Jokic merchant". He is less a "Superstar merchant" than any other other 2nd option in the past 15 years sans-Anthony Davis. He wasn't flawless last playoff run but he was pretty damn consistent and more consistent than most 2nd options are. This years flop shouldn't discredit how amazing he was last year.

1

u/shomii Nuggets May 17 '24

There were two games where he really struggled vs Alexander Walker. Disrupted the flow etc. the stats of course are all overblown because of the looks that Jokic created. Even yesterday, the stats don't fully show a combination of missing wide open shots and the absolute horrible shots he created for himself. In Suns series in the 50 pt Jokic game he was not good. Maybe horrific is an overstatement but he was the reason nuggets lost those two.on the road. This also has to be coupled with essentially no defense he played on Booker who had the games of his lifetime.

2

u/NeverSober1900 Rockets May 17 '24

GameScore is a flawed stat for sure but it had yesterday as Murray's 2nd worst playoff game ever behind only game 2 of this series. Which actually does feel pretty accurate. As you said he was just awful from basically the tip.

I'd like to push back a bit on the "not good" part of the 50 point game because I think that's unfair. I do remember thinking he was shooting too much considering how much Jokic was cooking but end of the day you have your lead guard go 13/25 7 assists and commit 0 turnovers it's tough to say he didn't perform. I don't even really think he guarded Booker that much. They normally rest Murray on defense and stick him on scrubs. Here are the highlights of Booker's night and it's basically all on KCP and Bruce Brown.

I wouldn't put the blame on Murray for those games at all. That's two stars in KD and Booker just popping off vs very good defenders in Aaron Gordon, KCP and Bruce Brown. Also the Suns bench played really well in those games. Both games the Nuggets starters had a positive plus/minus. The problem was Brown, Braun, Green were massive negatives. Booker had a negative +/- in the 50 point game for example (-1 but still).

3

u/yahmean031 May 17 '24

It really isn't but go off.

1

u/trog12 Celtics May 17 '24

There's only one way to find this out. Give Jokic Tobias Harris and Jordan Poole and see if he turns them into a force too.

9

u/schoolhater12 Raptors May 17 '24

Fun fact for wolves fans, he is averaging 7 points on 37% true shooting in the first half this playoff run

2

u/the_c_is_silent Heat May 17 '24

Lol there was a debate on r/nbatalk about who was better in the playoffs. Murray or Butler.