Jamal Murray Praises Russell Westbrook After Nuggets' Win vs. James Harden, Clippers

Denver Nuggets guard Russell Westbrook drew strong praise from teammate Jamal Murray after the team's 112-110 win over the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round of the 2025 NBA playoffs.

Westbrook hit a go-ahead three-pointer inside the final minute of regulation. While the Nuggets' lead didn't hold, his late-game heroics were critical toward getting to overcome and eventually securing the victory.

"I don't think it was just that three, though," Murray told reporters. "He makes a lot of winning plays, stuff that doesn't show up in the stat sheet. I don't just watch the shots that he makes. He was 5-of-17 and it doesn't matter to me."

As Murray referenced, Westbrook didn't have an efficient shooting night but finished with 15 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals. Denver was plus-eight in his 34 minutes on the floor.

That had to feel like an affirming performance for the nine-time All-Star, who was presented as a somewhat divisive figure internally in a postmortem of Denver's firing of head coach Michael Malone and general manager Calvin Booth.

The Athletic's Sam Amick and Tony Jones reported on April 10 that Malone suffered "a loss of credibility among the team's key players" in how he handled Westbrook. Some inside the locker room thought the coach was being a little too deferential and not holding Russ to account enough.

Amick and Jones went on to report Westbrook has an "uncertain" future in the Mile High City since he can opt out and hit free agency in the summer.

We're too deep into Westbrook's career to think he'll ever change his playing style. Sometimes that works to the benefit of his team, as it did for Denver in Game 1. If history has taught us anything, his singular approach will also cause some headaches later in the series.