‘Playoff Jimmy’ has been well documented during the 2022/23 NBA postseason, with Miami Heat’s Jimmy Butler once again upping his performances on the court when it matters most.
However, a player who is yet again putting up huge numbers in the Playoffs, remains firmly out of the limelight.
That player is Jamal Murray.
The point guard has certainly played his part in Denver Nuggets securing a place in the Finals, averaging 27.7 points per game in the postseason so far, but has been overshadowed by his teammate and last season’s league MVP, Nikola Jokic.
Before we delve further into his success this year, it’s probably worth noting, that he’s done this before.
Murray’s career exploded following his Playoff performances inside the Orlando bubble back in 2020, which was brought in amidst the COVID-19 outbreak.
As you can see above, Murray completely outperformed his regular season numbers in Orlando, with his point scoring in particular increasing by a remarkable eight points.
The point guard also was more efficient shooter in the Playoffs, with his field goal percentage rising over the 50 mark.
What’s interesting, though, is that Murray was also attempting on average 4.2 more shots per game than what he had been in the regular season, and still managed to improve his field goal success rate.
The Canadian dropped two 50-point games in their first round series against the Utah Jazz, and a 40-point game against the Los Angeles Clippers in Game Seven.
Murray and his Nuggets squad would eventually bow out to the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals, who would go on to be crowned NBA champions.
Nonetheless, it would be a playoff run that would emerge young talent Murray onto the scene.
There was one question on everyone’s minds, though.
Was it a one off?
Many viewed the drastic jump in his numbers during the postseason compared to his regular season that year as something that couldn’t be replicated by the 2016 7th overall pick.
After his Playoff heroics saw him sitting with the likes of LeBron James in the graph above, there was certainly pressure on the young man’s shoulders to continue progressing.
In the following year, though, Murray’s season took the worst possible turn, when he tore his ACL during a match against the Golden State Warriors in April.
It meant that not only would the guard miss the Nuggets postseason but would also remain side-lined for the entirety of the 2021/22 season.
After a long and gruelling recovery process, Murray finally returned into action this season to help the Nuggets clinch the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, sealing a fifth consecutive postseason in Denver.
He averaged 20 points, 4.8 assists and 4.0 rebounds in the regular season, which was very impressive considering he had previously been out for 18 months.
As I previously mentioned, many questioned whether Murray’s efforts back in 2020 were a one off or a fluke.
Well, I think it’s safe to say that those discussions can be swatted away like his All-Star teammate Jokic does at the rim on a regular basis.
The graph above illustrates Murray’s steady incline as a player during the regular season despite his lengthy injury, yet it’s outweighed by his ability to perform at an elite level in the Playoffs.
He has managed to better his bubble performance so far, currently averaging 27.7 points per game with the Finals still to play, which will either be against the Miami Heat or the Boston Celtics.
What’s rather fascinating, though, is that Murray is delivering an almost identical rate of incline in the points department in the regular season and post season yet is putting up much more points during the latter.
Why is Murray performing at such a higher level in the Playoffs, then?
There are several statistics we can examine to try get an answer, beginning with his usage percentage.
It may sound slightly confusing, but in simple terms, the stat determines the percentage of a team’s possessions used by a player when he was on the court.
In most cases, that would be a field goal attempt, shooting foul drawn or a turnover.
The data above shows us the usage percentage of the Nuggets usual starting five during this season’s Playoffs.
Murray takes the top spot at 28.8 per cent, with center Nikola Jokic in a close second with 27.2 per cent.
This means that through this postseason, Jamal Murray has used on average the highest amount of Nuggets possessions out of their starting five.
Interestingly, his usage percentage during the regular season came in at 26.1 per cent, which is 2.7 per cent lower.
So, Murray has directly used more of his team’s possessions in the Playoffs than he did in the 82 games prior, which may have played its part in him scoring more on average.
Similarly, to the 2019/20 postseason, Murray has been taking on average more shots per game than in his regular season, which links in appropriately with his higher usage percentage.
He’s jumped from his regular season average of 16.0 Field Goal attempts to 21.3 in the Playoffs, after 15 games played.
And once again, Murray’s increased his field goal percentage whilst doing this, which also explains why he’s been turning up his scoring a few notches in the postseason.
The graph above which shows Murray’s True shooting percentage (TS% explained above) illustrates that apart from his 2018/19 season where it was neck and neck, the Canadian guard is shooting better in all areas during the postseason.
As previously touched on, Miami Heat small forward and fellow Playoff star, Jimmy Butler, has been taking the plaudits ahead of Murray for his impressive high scoring performances in recent weeks.
Butler is notoriously known for turning it on during the Playoffs, with criticisms towards the 33-year-old that he often has the tendency to go slightly adrift during the regular season.
He averaged 22.9 points this season but has been able to step up to help pioneer his Heat team to the Eastern Conference Finals, where they are currently 3-3 with the Boston Celtics.
So, how does he compare with fellow play-off improver, Jamal Murray?
The numbers above show the comparison of both players’ statistics during the regular season and Playoffs (plus = increase in Playoffs/minus = decrease in Playoffs).
Without going into detail about every figure on the chart, it’s evident that Murray has actually had a far bigger improvement so far this post season (data from 28th May, 2023).
Player Efficiency Rating, or more known as PER, may sound a bit daunting to some, but it simply put, considers all positive and negative contributions by a player to measure their per-minute productivity.
Based off those stats, it does appear that perhaps it shouldn’t be ‘Playoff Jimmy’ across the headlines, it should be ‘Playoff Jamal.’
Steering away from the sole comparison with Butler, Murray evidently remains as one of the most underrated players in the league.
His involvement in this talented Nuggets team is proving to be as important as his big man counterpart, Jokic.
There is certainly one thing which could get Murray some long awaited recognition, though…
Get Denver their very first Championship.
Jack Bishop Sport 