Keeler: Learn his name, Shaq. That’s Jamal M‑U-R-R-A‑Y. And he’s got the Nuggets on the verge of making history.

Learn his name, Shaq.

Learn it, man.

M‑U-R-R-A‑Y.

First NBA play­er since Michael Jor­dan in 1993 to fol­low-up a 50-point game in the play­offs with a 40-point one.

M‑U-R-R-A‑Y.

First guy since MJ in the ’93 Finals to put up at least 40 points in three con­sec­u­tive post­sea­son games.

M‑U-R-R-A‑Y.

First play­er in NBA his­to­ry with mul­ti­ple play­off tilts with at least 50 points, five rebounds and five assists.

M‑U-R-R-A‑Y.

The fourth play­er in NBA his­to­ry with mul­ti­ple 50-point games in the same series.

M‑U-R-R-A‑Y.

Sixth play­er in NBA his­to­ry to have scored 50 points or more in a play­off con­test more than once. The oth­er five: Jor­dan, Wilt Cham­ber­lain, Allen Iver­son, Jer­ry West and Dono­van Mitchell.

You know who’s not on that list?

Shaquille O’Neal.

Love the big dude. Love him to death. But it says some­thing that, before the Nuggets’ 119–107 vic­to­ry over Utah on Sun­day, before Mur­ray forced a Game 7, O’Neal went on nation­al tele­vi­sion and referred to the guy who’s put Den­ver — a team, a city, a fan base — on his back as, “Jamal Murphy.”

Jamal. Mur­phy.

Charles Barkley, Ken­ny Smith and Ernie John­son, Shaq’s TNT stu­dio pals, right­ful­ly let him have it.

“Mur­phy, Mur­ray,” O’Neal coun­tered. “It’s still got an M‑U-R in it. That’s all that matters.”

Learn his name, Shaq.

M‑U-R-R-A‑Y.

“They trust me,” Mur­ray said after drop­ping 50 points on just 24 shots vs. the Jazz. “I try not to let them down. They believe in me. I believe in them.”

After Game 6, every­body else is believ­ing, too.

“He’s play­ing amaz­ing,” offered cen­ter Niko­la Jokic, who chipped in 22 points and nine assists. “Not just scor­ing wise, his ener­gy, his lead­er­ship. He’s real­ly play­ing at a high lev­el, just a super­star level.”

Super­stars rise on the biggest stages. Super­stars make the impos­si­ble look rou­tine. Super­stars know how to shake every­thing else off, even if the world seems to be on fire all around them.

Unlike the oth­er scor­ing leg­ends, Mur­ray is play­ing every game away from home. Unlike the oth­er scor­ing leg­ends, Mur­ray is steal­ing the spot­light in 2020, in the age of COVID-19, with Blacks dying in the street and in their homes.

Murray’s got a pic­ture of George Floyd on one shoe. And a pic­ture of Bre­on­na Tay­lor on the oth­er. He broke down, face racked with emo­tion, dur­ing his postgame inter­view on the court. Then again in the tun­nel after leav­ing the arena.

M‑U-R-R-A‑Y.

“Peo­ple want me to be con­sis­tent,” said the 23-year-old guard, who went into the week­end aver­ag­ing 30.8 points in this series after scor­ing 21.3 per game dur­ing the 2019 post­sea­son. “I’m not going to lie, it’s not easy.

“That’s why the greats are so good, because they don’t do it just one night. They do it every night. They play hard every night. They bring their will to win every sin­gle night. And they will their teams to play harder.”

Despite all that will, all that weight, all that emo­tion, all that Dono­van Mitchell, some­how, there is a Game 7.

Win­ner on Tues­day gets Kawhi. Los­er goes home.

And it’s been a while. The Nuggets found them­selves fac­ing a 3–1 series deficit in the post­sea­son 13 times in fran­chise his­to­ry. Only twice did Den­ver ral­ly to force a Game 7: In the 1994 West­ern semis against Utah and in the 2012 open­ing round against Kobe Bryant and the Los Ange­les Lakers.

The Nuggets wound up los­ing both series.

Of course, those teams didn’t have Jor­dan. Those teams didn’t have Cham­ber­lain. Or Iver­son. Or West.

These Nuggets have Murray.

M‑U-R-R-A‑Y.

“Still not a house­hold name,” John­son quipped before Game 6.

He is now, EJ. He is now.

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