Forget the box score, as obscene as it was. The Nuggets are back in the conversation to reach the NBA Finals because of how Jamal Murray played, not how many points he scored Wednesday night against Portland.
He was great for the same reasons Kobe Bryant was great. Murray is getting even with the basketball world, taking everything personally again. Murray knows he is the accelerant, the one player beyond Jokic who gives a championship run credibility.
In the last game before the All-Star break, Murray dropped a career-high 55 points, showing competitive incivility, egged on by the Trail Blazers’ fellow Canadian Dalano Banton.