What more does Denver Nuggets star Jamal Murray need to do, fans are asking, for Murray to get the attention he deserves? In an egregious oversight by the NBA as the Conference Finals began, NBA.com listed what it said were six players who could possibly win the Conference Finals MVP Awards.
That’s right, only six players were listed, meaning two of the four teams had only one candidate in the mix. For the Nuggets that candidate was the obvious choice — two-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic.
But the Nuggets had the best record in the NBA’s Western Conference, and that doesn’t happen because of one player, as dominant as Jokic has been. Indeed, even Jokic — without false modesty — has said of Murray: “He is our best player, and we are following him right now.”
The @nuggets officially clinch the No. 1 seed in the West after Memphis' loss 🔝📈
— NBA TV (@NBATV) April 6, 2023
The West runs through Denver ⚒️🔥 pic.twitter.com/zq1oUyo07n
Fans are particularly surprised because the NBA has a well-oiled star-making machine, which has been highly effective at making players into household names — sometimes players who hardly measure up to Murray.
Ben Simmons of Brooklyn is a multiple-time NBA All-Star selection who has never scored a big playoff basket and never sniffed the NBA Finals — yet the NBA machine turned Simmons into a star.
By contrast, Jamal Murray — making a mockery of the NBA machine — has never been selected for an NBA All-Star team.
Special.
— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) May 19, 2023
37 PTS
10 REB
5 AST
4 STL pic.twitter.com/vZnDPp7g7t
How could the NBA star-making mechanism leave out Murray? And for that matter, why did it ignore Miami’s Bam Adebayo in limiting its list of potential Conference Finals MVPs to just six players? (Anthony Davis, LeBron James, Jokic, Jimmy Butler, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.)
In Game 2 Denver moved its advantage over the Lakers to a formidable 2-0, holding home court twice. Murray — who entered the Conference Finals averaging 25.9 points, 6.5 assists and 5.2 rebounds in the 2023 playoffs — scored 37 points including 23 in the 4th quarter to lead the Nuggets to victory.
If Murray is not a candidate for Conference Finals MVP, then — as you hear sometimes in another sphere — it’s got to be rigged.
