NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: LAKERS VS. NUGGETS

September 19, 2020

Jamal Murray

Denver Nuggets

Practice Day

Q. Jamal, I just asked Malone, and he was describing Mike’s [Porter Jr.] growth as remarkable from the beginning of this postseason to now. You've been as vocal as anybody with him. Where have you seen the most growth in his game?

JAMAL MURRAY: His patience right now -- he might not touch it every single time on the court but when he does, he's going to put it up and most likely make it. His rebounding is incredible. He has got a really good nose for the ball. Shot blocking is there.

So all his instincts are there, not just on the offensive part. I think he's going to be a big factor in this series against the Lakers.

Q. How is the mood in the locker room today?

JAMAL MURRAY: Another day in the bubble. Go get some food. I haven't showered yet, so I'm going to go shower. I'm going to lay down. Watch a movie. Watch some film. Yeah, just get ready for tomorrow.

Q. How do the Lakers give you and Nikola a different look when you guys are on offense and not pick-and-roll than maybe some of the other teams in the NBA do? How do they challenge you when you guys are trying to go to that?

JAMAL MURRAY: It's not something we haven't seen. Obviously, we've played the Lakers before. It's not the first time we're playing them. I think we just got to be quicker on our offense and things we do, and if they are going to play with a pace like that, we have to play faster on our shot, as well.

They may try to switch some things, but that's fine. We'll just play through that. You know, get into everybody's head, it's going to be hard for them to pay so much attention to us and shooting the floor.

Q. I guess a lot of people have asked about the intimidation factor of the Lakers, but one thing AD said to us yesterday was that even when they were leading, they were kind of worried about you guys kind of making one of your comebacks. Do you feel like you guys have a mental edge in that because you've come back from so many double-digits leads and come back from down in these series?

JAMAL MURRAY: Not every game -- I just think they controlled the game in the first half, and Lebron does a great job of pushing the pace when he wants to and making those runs seem bigger than they are.

Like I said, we just have to stick with it. As bad as we played in the first half, we were only down 11. So we were right there, and we weren't even playing at our best basketball. So we just take care of some of the detail stuff after we watch the film today and I think we might not have to come back in the fourth quarter as much.

Q. It was nine points in the third quarter after you hit a three-pointer, you got it rolling a little bit. Is there anything that you can sort of take away from last night that gives you guys confidence, given what you've already done; that by no means are you discouraged by a 1-0 deficit?

JAMAL MURRAY: We don't need confidence. We have that. Like I say, it just comes out in detail. They are very detailed in things they do and Rondo does a hell of a job of passing the ball and putting guys in position to score. When you see these basketball minds out there -- even when he's not scoring the ball, he makes everything work.

We just have to limit all their options on offense and try to get a score on our offensive end. But we'll be fine. We just have to come back with better energy and have a better first half than we did last game.

Q. How is the atmosphere inside the locker room in front of Game 2, and also, what would you like to keep from Game 1?

JAMAL MURRAY: It's fine. We've been down 1-0 before, and we're just going to look ahead to the next game and try to right our wrongs.

But other than that, no, we're alright, and like I said, we want to come off stronger than we did last game and put some pressure on them instead of them always having pressure on us.

Q. I think some of the turnovers, was it the Lakers pressure, was it just you guys not on the same page? I guess watching them, are you more optimistic that that number can go down in Game 2?

JAMAL MURRAY: It only Game 1, guys. It's Game 1. Completely different defensive team than the Clippers were. The Clippers were a lot of on-ball and they would strip the ball from you or hit the ball out of my hands or mess up our offense. It's more of passes and playing off passing lanes and getting on runs. Completely different defense we are playing.

I think we'll be fine. We just have to look at our options better and our plays, and just be a little smarter, that's all. But you know, small sample size.

Q. How important for you is it to cut down Rondo's pace?

JAMAL MURRAY: It it's not just Rondo. When AD contests and LeBron gets going they are looking for that. They are looking to try to push the pace without post-up. So they are trying to do different things to make it work in their favor. Like I said, if we can just get the stops and get our run on our end and put some pressure on them. That's what we're looking to do.