Getty Jamal Murray #27 of the Denver Nuggets puts up a shot against the Portland Trail Blazers in the first quarter during Game One of the Western Conference Semi-Finals of the 2019 NBA Playoffs.
Weird stat of the day: Nuggets guard Jamal Murray has scored 23 or 24 points in all of Denver’s playoff wins this season. He’s scored under 20 in each of the four losses, including Wednesday night’s 97-90 defeat to the Trail Blazers at home in the Pepsi Center.
Point being: when he plays well, the Nuggets tend to win. They’ll need him Friday night for a Game 3 tilt in Portland, but it’s not clear if he’ll be available due to a reaggravated thigh injury.
One other thing to know about Murray? His dad taught him from an early age to deal with pain. Roger Murray, as well as Jamal’s mom Sylvia, prepared him to deal with the rigors of the NBA.
Here’s what you need to know about them.
1. Roger Taught Jamal Mental Toughness Using Inspiration from Bruce Lee
Jamal Murray (@BeMore27) explains how kung fu movies influenced his game at @KentuckyMBB. t.co/TbJZrnY0Tu
“Fatigue is one thing,” Murray explained in January to ESPN’s Jackie MacMullen. “Injuries are another. But if you are just tired because you just practiced — well, I’m not having that.”
This mentality was molded through trial by fire growing up with his father. According to Nick Kosmider in the Denver Post back in 2017, Roger used Bruce Lee “a blueprint” to fatherhood.
“I saw him as almost superhuman,” Roger said. “I watched how he approaches things mentally, how committed he was to things he wanted to do. He would never give up and never put any blocks in the way to stop him from whatever he was trying to do.
Whatever my boy wants to do, Roger promised, I’m going to help him be the very best at it.
“It happened to be basketball that he loved,” Roger said.
This involved such tactics as making Jamal sink 30 free throws in a row at age 7, sitting in a leg squat for 12 minutes while a hot cup of tea balances on his leg and no TV time.
This imbued him with a “mind over matter” mentality that he currently demonstrates for the Nuggets.
“I know that if I go through certain things, there is going to be pain,” Murray said to the Denver Post. “But I wasn’t trying to put that on my head. I would call my dad before every game, he’d ask me how it was and I’d tell him exactly how I felt. Then it got right back to basketball and he’d tell me what to do. It wasn’t like I was saying, ‘I’m feeling this or I’m feeling that.’ I just told myself, ‘I’m fine. I can play through it and I can do the same stuff I could do if I was healthy.’”
Even if most don’t see Jamal showing pain, those close to him know when it’s happening.
“I don’t think our fans or probably even (the media) know how much pain he’s in,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said to Kosmider “He’s dealing with a lot of stuff.”
Just like daddy taught him.
2. Roger Moved from Jamaica to Ontario When He Was 9 Years Old
Happy Father’s Day Pops!!! & happy father’s day to all the dads out there. Be More
According to the New York Times in 2016, Roger moved from Jamaica to Kitchener, Ontario when he was 9 years old (“part of an influx of people from the Caribbean who now reside in and around Toronto.”)
At the time of the article, Roger was 42. Now he’s 45. When he was young, he idolized Michael Jordan.
Roger Murray loved basketball, he said, watching tape-delayed broadcasts on Canadian television and embracing Michael Jordan as his sports hero. Once Jamal was born, Roger Murray often took him along to pickup games in Kitchener. Jamal would sit on the sideline, developing a passion by osmosis.
He grew up to be a track star that specialized in the 100-meter dash. He also played pickup basketball against such locals as future heavyweight boxing champion Lennox Lewis. Per Sportsnet:
Roger Murray…developed an eye for athletic talent. He thought one local kid he played hoops against might suit another sport, and that’s exactly how it worked out for Lennox Lewis. He thought another local kid had a talent for basketball—his son.
3. Sylvia Supervised Jamal’s Academic Life While Roger Focused on Basketball
Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there! Thanks for giving us your ultimate care throughout our lives 🙏🏾
Off the basketball court, Jamal looks up to his mother Sylvia Murray and his younger brother Lamar Murray (per Kentucky Kernel). The former Kentucky Wildcat talked on Coach John Calipari’s website about how his mother Sylvia held down the homelife, while his father focused on his basketball development.
“She’s always been helping me,” Murray said of his mother. “She helps me with my schoolwork sometimes. She would talk to me and send me messages when she’s at work telling me she loves me and bless my heart, stuff like that. She’s always had a positive attitude toward me. Very supportive of what I do. I’m not there all the time. My dad spends most of the time with me for traveling reasons. She’s very supportive and takes care of my brother, holds it down at home.”
He shouted out all mother, including his own, on Mother’s Day 2017 on Twitter. In this post on Interbasket, she is described as a dark-haired Caucasian women.
4. Roger Claims that Jamal Once Made 270 Free Throws in a Row Growing Up
One of the last guys on court following the Nuggets’ last practice before Game 1, Jamal Murray (and assistant Ryan Bowen). Murray ends every practice by seeing how many free-throws he can make in a row. His record when I last checked at the beginning of the season? 270
While Jamal was a prep star at Orangeville Academy in Canada, Roger once made a bold claim: that his son had made 270 free throws in a row (per Bleacher Report).
This is a product of constant practice on shooting form, as noted earlier by the Denver Post.
“In the early days, we used to always work on his form with free throws and jump shots,” said Roger Murray, who describes his relationship with Jamal as father, coach, trainer and friend. “So he’d be at the free-throw line and would sometimes get frustrated because he wouldn’t make a shot.
That grew into a consistent stroke that he demonstrates to this day, as this past season he shot just under 44 percent from the field, including nearly 37 percent from behind the arc. That includes a solid 84.8 percent rate from the charity stripe.
5. Roger Joined Jamal for His NBA Draft Announcement Presser
Jamal was a one-and-done star for the Wildcats during the 2015-16 season, scoring 20.7 points per game for a team that tied for the SEC regular-season championship.
When he announced his decision to enter the NBA Draft, Roger joined him. They embraced after the decision went public. Roger told Jamal that he loved him, leading to a heartwarming moment.
Jamal would be drafted in the 1st round by the Nuggets with the No. 7 overall pick.