Patrick Beverley’s seemingly outrageous claim about locking down Jamal Murray actually has merit

For a January regular-season game, Tuesday night’s battle between the defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets and Philadelphia 76ers more than lived up to the hype. But while the two focal points — Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid — shared a mutual moment of respect with each other after the 76ers prevailed, Patrick Beverley just couldn’t resist being Patrick Beverley.

When asked about his catalyzing defense on Murray in the fourth quarter, Beverley wasted no time taking a shot at one of his rivals. After holding Murray to zero points in the final stanza while forcing two turnovers, a brash Beverley suggested this kind of lockdown performance had always been the case when the two guards squared off against one another.

Beverley will probably never shy away from a trash-talking quote, but he’s not entirely wrong about his individual defensive success with Murray.

Patrick Beverley when asked about the key to shutting down Jamal Murray in the fourth quarter: "No key. I’ve been locking his ass up for years."

— Gina Mizell (@ginamizell) January 17, 2024

Per StatHead, at face value, Beverley holds a clear edge over his career while squaring up against Murray. The advanced numbers bear out a similar conclusion. According to Senior NBA writer Bryan Kalbrosky, Beverley has defended Murray on 292 possessions, which is the sixth-most in the entire league. He’s forced 11 turnovers off Murray (fifth-most). While Murray is 20-of-40 on shooting attempts in these situations against Beverley, he’s scoring just 19.2 points per 100 possessions. That is significantly lower than his career average of 27.6.

The inclination to defend Murray against Beverley’s claim will come from the Nuggets’ famous bubble playoff series with the Los Angeles Clippers in 2020. Murray was arguably the best player in that instant classic seven-game battle. He averaged over 22 points, just about six assists, and over four rebounds per game. Perhaps more impressively, he shot over 43 percent (on just under seven attempts per game!) from behind the three-point line. When push came to shove, Murray dropped a ruthlessly efficient 40-burger in the series-clinching Game 7. In fact, it is probably that very series against the Clippers that cemented Jamal “Playoff Murray” as one of the NBA’s greatest modern postseason performers.

Not to burst anyone’s bubble (get it?), but Murray wasn’t cooking Beverley in that Denver comeback. No, no. Murray actually found his groove against Los Angeles whenever he had Paul George (24.9 points per 100) or Kawhi Leonard (28.9) defending him. Considering George and Leonard’s reputations as shutdown defensive savants, that’s arguably a more impressive notch in Murray’s belt. Even still, he didn’t do the same to Beverley, which adds credence to the 76ers role player’s trash talk. This isn’t to say Beverley didn’t have a significant role in that Clippers’ collapse. But at the very least, the numbers say it wasn’t because Murray ran circles around him.

The Nuggets and 76ers will rematch in a nationally televised matinee game in Denver in 10 days. Considering that Murray will almost certainly see this Beverley quote and use it as bulletin board material for some redemption, expect more fireworks from these fiery competitors. If the NBA world gets really lucky, we could even see these two duke it out in this year’s NBA Finals.

What a treat that would be.