After signing a max contract in the offseason, Jamal Murray has enjoyed a rocky start to the Denver Nuggets' 2024-2025 NBA season. The 2023 NBA champions were counting on Murray being a worthy running mate to reigning MVP Nikola Jokic in the prime of his championship-winning window.

For roughly two months, that had not been the case.

Some of Murray's struggles so far have been related to his health -- he recently revealed he was dealing with plantar fasciitis earlier this season. Some of them have also likely been connected to a lack of confidence, which, duh. It had been a while since we'd seen a genuinely electric Murray, a.k.a. the same player who averaged 26.7 points, 7.1 assists, and 5.7 rebounds on 47-40-92 shooting splits in the playoffs en route to Denver's first championship in 2023. It wouldn't be a shock to learn some of Murray's recent issues were getting to his head.

On Monday, with the Nuggets on the verge of a heartbreaking road loss to the Sacramento Kings while Jokic played his sloppiest game of the season, a resurgent Murray finally rescued his team in the clutch.

In the fourth quarter, after the Nuggets blew an early 23-point lead, Murray had ice in his veins. He scored 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting (3-of-3 from 3-point land) and was a +14 in the final stanza. And while running Denver's patented two-man game with Jokic -- the same deadly two-man game that brought the franchise its 2023 title -- Murray delivered a ruthless game-winning shot to cap a chaotic finish:

Murray playing like this when the other Nuggets didn't have it going in a tough road environment speaks volumes. It's the best sign yet that Denver's ambitions of a second title in three NBA seasons are still extremely alive. If Murray plays like this as a worthy partner to Jokic, the Nuggets will be more than capable of beating any other NBA title heavyweight. His individual success is that important to them.

Currently, the Nuggets have the sixth-best odds at +1400 to win this year's NBA title over with oddsmakers at BetMGM. If you ask me, that's excellent value for a team that employs a three-time MVP -- the best player in the league at the peak of his powers -- and a Murray who can still finish as he did against the Kings:

At the time of this writing, the Nuggets are now 14-10, the same record they had to start their 2022-2023 championship run. Back then, a struggling Murray hit a game-winning shot on the road in Portland for a Nuggets team that was about to ascend to elite title contender status. It was a seminal turning-point moment for that iteration of Denver. It was when those Nuggets started to really believe and realize the greatness they were capable of.

It was when everything finally clicked.

Two years later, don't be surprised to see a similar thing happen for the Nuggets and a struggling Murray, who hit a game-winning shot on the road in Sacramento.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: Jamal Murray finally rescuing the Nuggets in the clutch is a great sign for their title hopes