Jamal Murray explained his gnarly ‘floor burn’ with a wild childhood story
During the Denver Nuggets’ 109-94 victory over the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals, Jamal Murray wash shown holding his left hand after a fall in the third quarter. What actually happened was Murray sustaining a nasty floor burn. And by nasty, we mean NASTY.
However, Murray stayed in the game and played excellently, finishing with his first career triple double in the NBA Finals in the win. Speaking with ESPN’s Malika Andrews, he revealed the way he was able to continue to play through a nasty floor burn, and it sounds…kind of depressing?
Jamal Murray sustained a bad floor burn in Game 3.
When he was younger, his dad would have him do pain tolerance drills — including balancing cups of hot tea on his quads while holding a squat — to prepare for moments like this. From NBA Today: pic.twitter.com/q7WNTrLAPt
— Malika Andrews (@malika_andrews) June 8, 2023
Now I’m not gonna lie, this doesn’t sound very cool or fun at all. This sounds like something that Fire Lord Ozai would do to Zuko as a form of punishment. Hot tea on the quads sounds extremely dangerous, especially for a kid, like there’s gotta be a different or better way to get the same results.
Murray also said that his dad would make him pick up maple leaves when it would get cold outside—with his bare hands, in order to strengthen his hands and grip strength. That’s honestly not the most insane thing I’ve heard an athlete do to strengthen his hands. Jerry Rice said he used to catch bricks to strengthen his hands. Not like, someone would throw bricks at him and he’d catch them, but it would look more like this drill that Odell Beckham Jr. is doing:
Whatever Murray did to develop his game as a youngster, it’s clearly working now. It’s looking like the perfect No. 2 option next to Nikola Jokic, and his absurd shot-making ability has been on display for all to see on the biggest stage in basketball.
When Murray has it going, the Nuggets are just too talented for the Heat. If Murray can replicate his Game 3 brilliance two more times, Denver will have its first championship in franchise history.
