NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: LAKERS VS. NUGGETS

September 26, 2020

Jamal Murray

Denver Nuggets

Game 5: Postgame

Los Angeles Lakers 117, Denver Nuggets 107

Q. As much as I'm sure this hurts right now, you guys did make NBA history. You won six elimination games. What do you take away from these 82 days inside the bubble?

JAMAL MURRAY: We played hard, played together. We fought for one another. We trust one another more than we did during the regular season. We're just on the same page with everything we're doing. Even when it wasn't perfect or we went through some ups and downs in the games, we just stayed with it. And game after game we proved we can come back, down 3-1 twice.

We proved we can challenge the Clippers, who were the favorites. We proved we can challenge the Lakers. And it's only our second year in the playoffs. I wish things went differently, but I'm just proud of our guys, proud of everything we have done, everything we have accomplished. It's not the end goal, but to make it this far and surprise as many people as we did, it's a good feeling. So just try to come back next year and try to come back stronger.

Q. The telecast said that you had a right knee contusion. I was wondering is that what you had and how did that impact you and when did you hurt yourself? And also, if you could talk about this postseason and what it means for your career of taking a step forward to where you want to be.

JAMAL MURRAY: I have a big bruise on my foot. Just hurt me all game. I changed shoes and that didn't help. Yeah, I have a bone bruise. I don't like to tell everybody what I got. I just like to play through it. Yeah, I was in pain, but it's cool.

I was out there. I was struggling a little bit today. Eighty-something days in the bubble and a lot of minutes, I didn't have the energy I needed to have for my teammates today. Without me moving as hard or cutting as hard or scoring as much, I can be so much better in so many different ways. I can't just try to get through the game. I have to try to help lead my team to win by any means. I could have played a lot better this game.

It was a good run, but I don't want to be in the position of losing. I just hate to lose and nothing else really matters to me.

Q. Obviously a big storyline for this team this entire playoff run was about getting that respect. You even said you better give us that damn respect. Even though you came up short of your ultimate goal, do you feel like this team has really earned and finally earned that respect from others around the league and even outside of the league?

JAMAL MURRAY: I don't know. We have always been the underdogs to opposing teams. Then when we came back, we had a target on our back from the opposing teams. But a lot of media outlets just didn't see us as a threat or didn't see us as a really good team. Just thought we were whatever and, you know, a future team, a future this and that.

As a competitor and as a player and the way I was brought up and taught, I believe in everything we've got. I believe in the team and really feel like we had a chance to win. That's my mentality as a player.

I might say some out-of-pocket stuff. That's just the competitive spirit coming out of me. I believe in my squad. I'm just glad the other teams look at us as a really good team and they just can't come out and just try to play or just try to get through the game. They got to play us and they got to play hard. So it was good to see other teams give us that.