Something truly consequential happened in Canadian basketball on Tuesday September 15, 2020.

King Nash’s rightful heir to the G.O.A.T. of the North royal seat completed his most profound statement on the line of succession.[1]

Jamal Murray, Kitchener, Ontario’s Own, completed a string of superlative performances against the Los Angeles Clippers (the “both ends of the court”, uber-team, featuring Kawhi FunGuy-Boardman and PG-13) that truly represented his qualities: skilfulness, resilience, focus, dominance and crucial effectiveness – I will name it CLUTCH-ED-NESS.[2]

It is not a take offered at 5,778 Kelvin.[3]

No. It is counter-hyperbole based on definitive proof provided all along the way in a still young career.[4]

Murray is ascending to the throne.

All hail the Beautiful Seafarer[5] of the Hardwood, the G.O.A.T. of the North in waiting.

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Photo credit: http://www.basketball.ca/3×3-canada-quest-p150398%26language=en/player/jamal-murray

[1] Steve Nash is essentially the consensus greatest Canadian basketball player of all time making him the Greatest Of All Time from Canada or, using my own trademark lingo, the G.O.A.T. of the North: https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/n/nashst01.html; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Nash

[2] Murray scored 40 points, as the Denver Nuggets overcame a double-digit deficit to dispense with the Los Angeles Clippers 104-89 in Game 7: https://www.tsn.ca/denver-nuggets-complete-historic-comeback-to-beat-los-angeles-clippers-1.1524947

[3] The heat from what would be a very “hot take” and equivalent to the temperature at the Sun’s surface: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun

[4] Murray’s prior efforts, including his work as an 18 year-old at the 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto, give him a fourth-quarter performer’s pedigree: See https://nationalpost.com/sports/canada-settles-for-silver-with-loss-to-brazil-in-pan-am-mens-basketball;and https://www.sportsnet.ca/more/canada-does-the-unimaginable-at-pan-am-games/

[5] Consider the meanings of “Jamal” and “Murray”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamal#:~:text=Jamal%20(Arabic%3A%20%D8%AC%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%84%E2%80%8E%20Jam%C4%81l,spell%20it%20Jamel%20or%20Jamal; https://irelandroots.com/murray.htm#:~:text=Murray%20is%20an%20extremely%20common,Irish%20Muireb%20means%20’seafarer‘; https://www.ancestry.ca/name-origin?surname=murray#:~:text=Scottish%3A%20regional%20name%20from%20Moray,sea’%20%2B%20’settlement‘