Jamal Murray. Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

Watch: Jamal Murray's witty comparison of his two game-winners vs. Lakers

By Daniel Gilinsky | Last updated 4/30/24

Jamal Murray has been a heck of a playoff performer over the years, and he's off to quite the start to the 2024 playoffs.

Murray averaged 23.6 points, 7.2 assists and 4.6 rebounds in the Denver Nuggets' first-round series win over the Los Angeles Lakers, and his latest game-winner ended Los Angeles' season on Monday night in Game 5.

Following two LeBron James free throws that tied the contest with 26.3 seconds left, Murray hit a 14-footer to put Denver up two with 3.6 seconds remaining. The game-winner was another clutch shot from Murray, who canned a similar step-back shot at the end of Game 2 to cap a 20-point comeback effort from the Nuggets.

Following Denver's 108-106 win in Game 5 to advance to the Western Conference semifinals, Murray had a simplistic, yet brilliant response when asked about how that last game-winner compared to his Game 2 dagger.

"Game 2 I went right. Game 5 I went left." ️

Jamal Murray on his two-game winners against the Lakers pic.twitter.com/X0113i7uxn
— NBA TV (@NBATV) April 30, 2024

Murray, who finished with 32 points and seven assists in Game 5, hit a pull-up in the deep paint over Austin Reaves to land the last victory when he "went left." By contrast, as he succinctly put it, Murray splashed a mid-range attempt over Anthony Davis to cap Denver's comeback in Game 2 when he "went right." The sensational guard finished that

For him to have that rather matter-of-fact explanation regarding how he nailed those all-time clutch shots in a span of three games was quite amusing. Those were high-pressure situations, against a famous franchise in the Lakers and arguably the best basketball player ever in LeBron James.

Murray is one of the NBA's coolest customers in crunch time, and that sort of postgame response exemplifies that.

More must-reads: