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Nuggets' Jamal Murray Issues Strong Statement on Russell Westbrook

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Ashish Mathur | Last updated Apr 20, 2025 12:29 PM ET

The Denver Nuggets beat the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday in Game 1 of the first-round series in overtime by a final score of 112-110. Three-time MVP Nikola Jokic led the Nuggets in scoring with 29 points. He also had 12 assists and nine rebounds.

However, it was Russell Westbrook who was the talk of the town after the game. Although the 2017 MVP shot 5-of-17 from the field and 2-of-6 from 3, Westbrook hit a 3-pointer with 24 seconds left in regulation to give the Nuggets a 98-96 lead. He then forced a turnover with 9.0 seconds left in overtime with Denver up 110-107 to seal the win.

"I know that play," Westbrook said after Game 1. "They have a dynamic roller with [Ivica Zubac], great cutters and guys that catch lobs. My job is to be able to be the low man and find ways to, excuse my language, (expletive) (expletive) up."

Westbrook finished with 15 points and eight rebounds in 34 minutes against his former team. The future Hall of Famer was a +7 despite shooting 29.4% from the floor and one of Westbrook's teammates praised him after the game.

Jamal Murray, who is looking to win his second championship, doesn't just pay attention to Westbrook's shooting numbers because he knows the UCLA product impacts the game in so many ways.

"I don't think it was just that three, though," Murray said. "He makes a lot of winning plays, stuff that doesn't show up in the stat sheet. I don't just watch the shots that he makes. He was 5-of-17 and it doesn't matter to me."

Westbrook, who has made the NBA Finals once (2012), is still searching for his first Larry O'Brien Trophy. The guard appeared in 75 games for the Nuggets in the regular season. He averaged 13.3 points, 4.9 rebounds and 6.1 assists.

"Russ is Russ," Nuggets interim coach David Adelman said after Game 1. "Defensively, he was absolutely incredible. He was playing free safety out there. I thought a lot of the reasons why the turnovers happened, even if it wasn't him forcing it, just the way he was roaming around and impacting the game, it was great for us.

"Then offensively, a couple of times I thought he attacked, maybe we could have pulled it out and executed, but that's what Russ does. He's going to play in attack mode. I don't think he's going to change after 17 years. If he sees somebody in front of him one-on-one, he's going to attack, and he made an enormous 3 in the fourth."

Westbrook and the Nuggets will look to take a 2-0 lead against the Clippers in Game 2, which is on Monday.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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