2023-06-08 18:51:00
Both exceptional in Game 3 of the NBA Finals last night, Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray have probably never been so strong together. The magical Denver duo know each other by heart today and the competition can’t do anything to stop them. Back to the origins of this magnificent collaboration.
Before the 2023 NBA Finals, before Orlando’s superb bubble run, before their rise and even before their first steps together in Denver, there was the Nike Hoop Summit 2014.
That year, Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray are both invited for this match which pits the best American prospects once morest the best young internationals every year. Jokic (19 years old) then comes out of a promising season with the Serbian club Mega Basket, and plans to appear in the 2014 Draft. As for Murray (17 years old), he is one of the very promising prospects in Canadian basketball, he who will join the famous University of Kentucky a year later. The duo defends the colors of Team World and really wants to hit the Americans.
Despite their talent and potential, Jokic and Murray are not really the headliners of the meeting. The scouts are mainly there to observe the interiors Karl-Anthony Towns and Jahlil Okafor, considered as future stars. But even if we didn’t know it at the time, this meeting will give us a first glimpse of this duo who would dominate the NBA a decade later.
Sharing the floor of the Moda Center in Portland, Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray do not really ignite the counters. 5 points and 7 rebounds for the future Joker, 10 points – 5 rebounds – 5 assists for Jamal. But a sequence particularly stands out when we redo the highlights nine years later: the one where we see Murray take a high screen from Jokic, attract the defense, before bringing out the swelling for an open (and missed) 3-point shot from the Serbian pivot.
Please watch this clip of Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokić playing together on Team World at the 2014 Nike Hoop Summit.
It’s like we were getting a glimpse into the future, of what would be, and we had no idea pic.twitter.com/P2iWoR8JQt
— Katy Winge (@katywinge) May 25, 2023
Well, well, we have the impression of having already seen that somewhere.
Of course, we are referring to the exceptional two-way game between Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, which is wreaking havoc with the Nuggets today.
Playing together since 2016, when Murray – seventh choice in the Draft – arrived in Denver to join Nikola selected two years earlier in… 41st position, the two Nuggets stars are currently in their seventh season in the same jersey, and especially at just two wins to take Colorado franchise to top of NBA. During that time, they got to know each other, they mastered their pick-and-roll game, they built an exceptional relationship on the court, until they became quite simply the most devastating duo in the NBA.
Denver finally got the Jokic/Murray pick and pop here. Murray able to reject. Dwight is up at the level but has to slide to contain. Green not able to switch in time, Jokic open for 3. pic.twitter.com/otX6a3RUoG
— Steve Jones Jr. (@stevejones20) September 23, 2020
This little sequence of the Nike Hoop Summit that we have just shown you, it may seem anecdotal at first sight, especially with the failure of Jokic. But she mostly gives the impression that Murray and the Joker were naturally made for playing together. Finding yourself like that, without ever having worn the same jersey, and finding almost similar actions a decade later in the NBA Finals, it has a small effect.
As if all this was finally written…
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#Jamal #Murray #Nikola #Jokic #au.. #Nike #Hoop #Summit
