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'I’m bringing that Larry O to Kitchener': Murray becomes ninth Canadian NBA Champion
The Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy is coming to Kitchener. Jamal Murray became an NBA champion on Monday as the Denver Nuggets defeated the Miami Heat 94-89 to clinch the 2023 NBA Championship with a 4-1 series win.
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When the buzzer sounded, Murray was overcome with emotion. After missing all of the 2021-22 season rehabbing from an ACL injury, it has been a long road back for the sharpshooter who worked tirelessly to ready his game and return to form.
<center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="fr" dir="ltr">NBA Champion Jamal Murray's 2023 Playoffs:<br><br>26.1 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 7.1 APG 🏹 <a href="https://t.co/PRRdz3Tis0">pic.twitter.com/PRRdz3Tis0</a></p>— NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1668483957577469952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 13, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
As the crowd roared for their point guard, he tried to put his emotions into words.
<center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Jamal Murray, NBA Champion 🏆<br><br>Showered with applause by the home crowd as the Nuggets bring a championship to Denver for the first time. <a href="https://t.co/lPp73bxBSf">pic.twitter.com/lPp73bxBSf</a></p>— NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1668463469895581697?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 13, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
It’s an amazing feeling,” Murray said. “The blood, sweat and tears to get back to this point. Everyone here, my team, my teammates believed in me, believed in me getting back to myself. We proved a lot of doubters wrong, I mean look at this.”
<center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">"We had to get you one, coach."<br><br>A mic'd up Jamal Murray celebrates the Nuggets' championship win 🔊 <a href="https://t.co/faUBpjuyJI">pic.twitter.com/faUBpjuyJI</a></p>— NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1668464723287736320?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 13, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Murray has spent all seven years of his NBA career in Denver after being drafted seventh overall by the Nuggets in 2016. He has been with teamamte Nikola Jokic, as well as Nuggets head coach Michael Malone since his first game in the NBA. In the immediate aftermath of the game, Murray found Malone, as well as Nuggets owner Stan Kroenke to celebrate with them and show his appreciation for their support.
<center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">"We had to get you one, coach."<br><br>A mic'd up Jamal Murray celebrates the Nuggets' championship win 🔊 <a href="https://t.co/faUBpjuyJI">pic.twitter.com/faUBpjuyJI</a></p>— NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1668464723287736320?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 13, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“He had continual trust in my game and what I'm trying to do out there,” Murray said of Malone. “He trusts me to make the right play out there.”
Time and again in the postseason run, Murray made exactly the right play. Whether for himself or a teammate, when the ball was in Murray’s hands, good things happened for the Nuggets.
The 26-year-old Kitchener, Ontario native became the ninth Canadian to win an NBA Championship and immediately moved into first place on the scoring list, averaging 26.1 points during the playoff run, the most by a Canadian. His 7.1 assist-per-game average this postseason also set a record for most assists during a championship run by a Canadian.
<center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Jamal Murray is the 9th Canadian to win an NBA Championship. 🇨🇦<br><br>He averaged 26.1 pts this playoffs, the most in a championship run by a Canadian. <a href="https://t.co/djNZTwmO0D">pic.twitter.com/djNZTwmO0D</a></p>— Keerthika Uthayakumar (@keerthikau) <a href="https://twitter.com/keerthikau/status/1668458703928930305?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 13, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
In an interview with Sportsnet’s Arash Madani following the game, Murray gave love to his hometown.
“It means a lot for that kind of support [in Kitchener]. I’m bringing that Larry O' to Kitchener,” Murray said to Madani.
Murray was incredible throughout the postseason, shining alongside Finals MVP Nikola Jokic on the league’s biggest stage. In a Game 3 road win in Miami, Murray finished with 34 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, as he and Jokic became the first two teammates to record triple-doubles in the same game in the NBA Finals, as well as the first two teammates to ever record 30-point triple-doubles in the same game.
<center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The first teammates in NBA history to each record a 30-point triple-double in a game. <br><br>They did it in the NBA Finals. <a href="https://t.co/gzgexT2VPg">pic.twitter.com/gzgexT2VPg</a></p>— StatMuse (@statmuse) <a href="https://twitter.com/statmuse/status/1666642860454604801?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 8, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
He also became the first player to ever record 10+ assists in the first four Finals games of his career.
<center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">First player in NBA history with 10+ AST in their first 4 Finals games. <a href="https://t.co/ZioNKPeAFU">pic.twitter.com/ZioNKPeAFU</a></p>— StatMuse (@statmuse) <a href="https://twitter.com/statmuse/status/1667369043559436289?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 10, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
At various points in the post-game celebration, Murray became choked up, the moment meaning so much to him.
“It was really hard to put into words, it still is,” he said of addressing the crowd on the championship stage. “I couldn’t even hold it in. It was a surreal moment and everything was hitting. Everything was hitting at once. From the journey, to the celebration with the guys, enjoying the moment, looking back on the rehab, looking back on myself as a kid, as the other viewer, looking from the crowd or from the camera lens in. It was a lot. I couldn’t hold it in. it’s something I’ve been working for my whole life.”
After celebrating in the locker room with plenty of champagne, Murray took an unexpected dip as Jokic hauled him into the pool.
<center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Jokic throws Jamal Murray into the pool 😭 <a href="https://t.co/h75zpzEgHm">pic.twitter.com/h75zpzEgHm</a></p>— NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1668473367798722562?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 13, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“To see it full circle, from rebab, not being able to walk up the stairs for a month or two, a lot of things going through my head, a lot of tears, a lot of blood, sweat and tears, just to see it full circle, having total belief in myself, having the team having total belief in me, people back home having total belief in me, it’s all I could ever ask for,” Murray said. “To see it like this, it’s amazing.”
The superstar point guard earned the nickname Bubble Murray In the NBA Bubble during a shortened 2020 season due to the pandemic. Two years later, that morphed into Playoff Jamal, reflecting his stellar start to the 2023 NBA postseason. Today, and every day after, he will now be known as an NBA champion.
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