Last offseason, after a disappointing second-round playoff exit, Jamal Murray went to Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone and told him it bugged him when Malone called him an inconsistent player.
“He said, ‘What bothers me is that you're right. I know I need to be more consistent,'” Malone recalled Tuesday night after the Nuggets' series-saving 114-106 win over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals.
That hasn't been the case in the bubble, where Murray and Nikola Jokic powered the Nuggets back from 3-1 deficits in two consecutive playoff series to reach their first conference finals since 2009. For Murray, that run included two 50-point games in the first round against the Utah Jazz and a 40-point performance in Game 7 of the second round against the Los Angeles Clippers.
Walter Cornett, of Glendale, Kentucky, is the owner and operator of Walter's Wildcat World. He founded WildcatWorld.com in 1998 making it one of the oldest Kentucky basketball fan sites in operation today.
On This Day In UK Basketball History
- On March 18, 1966, Louie Dampier joined the 1,000-point club. He did it in 53 games.
- On March 18, 1966, Kentucky, the No. 1 team in the nation, faced off against No. 2 Duke in the 1966 NCAA Final Four. Louie Dampier (23 points) and Pat Riley (19) led the top-ranked Cats past No. 2 Duke in front of 14,253 at the Cole Field House in College Park, Md.
- On March 18, 1972, Adolph Rupp coaches his last game at UK, a 73-54 loss to Florida State for the Mideast Region title in the NCAA Tournament.
- On March 18, 1978, in the 1978 NCAA Tournament round of eight, sophomore point guard Kyle Macy scored nine points in the final 6:16 to rally the Wildcats past Michigan State and freshman star Earvin “Magic” Johnson before 13,485 at the University of Dayton Arena.