There’s something magical about the number 55 in basketball lore.
From Michael Jordan’s legendary performance at Madison Square Garden to now Jamal Murray in Denver, the “double-nickel” has always carried a certain mystique.
Murray has etched his name into that exclusive club, simultaneously rewriting the Canadian record books.
It was a Murray flurry inside Ball Arena Wednesday night as the Denver Nuggets point guard delivered a masterclass performance: 55 points, four rebounds, five assists on 20-of-36 shooting, 7-of-15 from three-point range, and a near-perfect 8-of-9 from the free throw line in a 132-121 victory over Portland.
This historic performance caps an unprecedented run of Canadian excellence in the NBA. Remarkably, there have now been six 50-point games by Canadians in NBA regular season history — with four coming on four consecutive Wednesdays.
Most points scored by a Canadian in NBA history
Murray’s 55 points tops the list, followed by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s 54 on January 29, 2025, and his 52 points just one week earlier on January 22.
Kiki VanDeWeghe, whose father Ernie was Canadian and who also starred for the Nuggets in the 1980s, held the previous mark with 51 points scored back on December 13, 1983 while playing for Denver.
That performance still ranks ninth in Nuggets franchise history. Rounding out this exclusive club are Gilgeous-Alexander again with 50 points on February 5, 2025, and Murray’s previous career-high of 50 points set on February 19, 2021.
Murray wasted no time announcing his intentions, pouring in 14 points in the first quarter as Denver jumped out to a commanding 40-27 lead. By halftime, he had established a new first-half career high with 30 points.
The Kitchener, Ontario native had 45 points through three quarters and added ten more in the final frame to secure his place in history.
Jamal Murray 55-point double-nickel, third highest in Nuggets history
The 36 field goal attempts surpassed Gilgeous-Alexander’s previous Canadian record of 35 for the most in a 50-point game. Murray now has two 50+ point games in regular-season play and two in the playoffs in back-to-back games, further cementing his reputation as a big-game performer.
Murray’s 55 points stands as the third-highest scoring output in Nuggets franchise history, behind only David Thompson’s 73 points in 1978 and the 56 points scored by current teammate Nikola Jokić in December 2024.
The performance is even more remarkable considering Murray’s journey back from a devastating ACL tear that cost him over 120 games between 2021-2022.
Now fully healthy, he’s closing in on his personal best for 30-point games in a single season. Wednesday’s explosion marked his seventh such game this year, just two shy of the nine he recorded during the 2020-21 campaign before his injury.
The Nuggets closed the unofficial first half of the season on an eight-game winning streak, looking every bit like the former champions as they head into the All-Star break.
