Comment on How midseason shakeup changed the Avalanche locker room: “We’re closer as a group”

DALLAS — Jamal Murray has a tendency to make situations more difficult on himself. When he slithers around a ball screen from Nikola Jokic or isolates in open space, his instinct and his dribble often compel him inside the 3-point arc, where contested jump shots are considered equally challenging but less valuable. When he was a rising prospect in high school, “at first he would make 100 free throws every day,” his former coach Larry Blunt recalled.

First, it was the bellowing, almost cartoonish laughter reverberating off the walls inside the room. Then, it was multiple balls of tape hurled in the direction of unsuspecting victims. It was just a random weekday in the middle of a long, grinding season for the Avalanche. It was also a day this past week at Family Sports Center that felt steeped in symbolism. The Avalanche locker room was suddenly a pretty fun place to be.

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