Sports

Jamal Murray, Steven Stamkos win Sports Illustrated’s ‘Breakout’ and ‘Best Play’ awards

[ad_1]

Two Canadians were honoured at this year’s Sports Illustrated Awards.

Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray was named of the winner of the “Breakout of the Year” award, while Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Stamkos was the recipient of the “Play of the Year” award after his goal in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Dallas Stars.

Murray, the native of Kitchener, Ont., led the Nuggets to an upset of the favoured Los Angeles Clippers in the second round of the NBA playoffs in Orlando, Fla. The Nuggets would lose to the eventual NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers in the conference finals, but not before Murray made a highlight-reel layup in Game 4 of the series.

The layup drew comparisons to Michael Jordan’s own from Game 2 of the 1991 NBA Finals between Jordan’s Chicago Bulls and the Los Angeles Lakers.

WATCH | Murray gives highlight-reel performance vs. Lakers in Game 4 of Western finals:

LeBron James and the LA Lakers held off Jamal Murray and the Denver Nuggets to win game four 114-108 and take a 3-1 series lead. 0:23

“You dream of being great,” Murray said following the award announcement. “You dream of being the best version of yourself. So, I don’t see myself stopping there.”

Stamkos, from Markham, Ont., only played fewer than three minutes in the NHL playoffs as he was nursing a core muscle injury. His lone appearance came in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals against Dallas, where he scored on a sharp angle shot Stars’ goaltender Anton Khudobin to give his team a 2-0 lead in the first period.

WATCH | Stamkos scores in 1st period back from injury:

In his daily recap, Rob Pizzo compares Steven Stamkos comeback in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals to the Karate Kid. 2:55

 

 

[ad_2]

SOURCE NEWS