For Jamal Murray, this has been an historic NBA postseason.
Playing for something bigger than himself or his team, the star guard of the Denver Nuggets has joined the all-time playoff elite with his recent performances and doesn’t plan on giving up the fight.
Wearing sneakers with the faces of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor — two Black Americans killed this year by police — Murray scored 50 points for the second time in three games Sunday as the Nuggets forced Game 7 in their Western Conference first-round series with a 119-107 victory over the Utah Jazz.
“These shoes mean a lot,” a teary-eyed Murray said in a postgame interview with TNT. “I just wanna win. You find things that hold value, things to fight for, we found something worth fighting for.
I use these shoes as a symbol for me to keep fighting, all around the world.”
A season nearly cancelled by the coronavirus pandemic almost abruptly ended last week following the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
The Milwaukee Bucks refused to play Wednesday, and every other team followed, demanding action from the NBA and team owners.
A series of meetings among players, coaches, owners and Commissioner Adam Silver led to the establishment of a social justice coalition to increase voter registration and access, and advocate for meaningful criminal justice reform.
“It’s not just in America. It happens everywhere,” said Murray, a Canada native. It takes resistance, it’s not gonna take one night.
And we’ve been doing this kind of fight for 400 years.”
Murray began Saturday’s media session by placing his sneakers on his seat for two minutes, reminding viewers of the players’ cause.
The right sneaker featured a drawing of Floyd, choked to death by Minneapolis police on May 25.
The left featured Taylor, shot to death in her apartment by Louisville police in March.
“These shoes give me life,” Murray said.
Murray’s inspired play has helped the Nuggets twice stave off elimination.
On Sunday, Murray made 17-of-24 shots, including 9-of-12 three-pointers, to become the first player since Allen Iverson in 2001 to score at least 40 points in three straight playoff games.
Murray also became the fourth player to score 50 points twice in the same series, joining Iverson, Michael Jordan and Utah’s Donovan Mitchell, who also has done it in this series in a phenomenal scoring duel.
“Jamal’s been playing out of his mind,” said Mitchell, who played collegiately at Louisville and has been calling for justice for Taylor since arriving in Orlando in July.
Game Seven is today.
For the Nuggets and Jazz, their seasons are on the line.
But so is much more.
“When you’re fighting for something, it means a whole lot more,” Murray said.
“And we’ve been fighting this fight for a long time, and we’re tired of being tired.”
