Jamal Murray gets Nuggets love and win in 1st regular season home game since injury - NBA.com

Jamal Murray is introduced before the game against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Oct. 22, 2022.

DENVER (AP) — On the night the Denver Nuggets celebrated Nikola Jokic’s second straight MVP trophy and their superstar tied Wilt Chamberlain for sixth all-time with his 78th triple-double, it was Jamal Murray who got the strongest hugs from his coach and biggest ovations from the crowd.

“It’s been a minute since I got to feel that,” Murray said after scoring 16 points in Denver’s 122-117 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder in his first home game in more than 18 months.

Murray sank a pair of free throws with 9.7 seconds left to put the Nuggets ahead by four and Jokic capped the scoring by sinking one of two foul shots with 2.5 seconds remaining when Murray came out an embrace from coach Michael Malone and the sellout crowd of 19,983.

Jamal Murray racks up 16 points vs. Thunder

Murray, who tore his left ACL on April 12, 2021, sat out Denver’s big win at Golden State on Friday night in San Francisco because the Nuggets don’t want him playing back-to-back nights early on. After a choppy return in Denver’s season-opening loss at Utah on Wednesday night, Murray started to look like his old self by the third quarter Saturday night.

“Once he found his rhythm, we started seeing flashes of old Jamal,” Malone said, “the fadeaways, the step-backs, creating separation and tough shots, the two-man game between he and Nikola. And that is so much fun to watch.”

Jokic, who cautioned Murray against coming back late last year if he wasn’t mentally and physically ready, is enjoying his sidekick’s return, too.

“He’s trying to get back in a rhythm,” Jokic said. “But today he looked really good to me.”

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2022-10-23 06:02:23Z

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