OKLAHOMA CITY — Some secrets to Jamal Murray’s success Monday against the Thunder are staying with the Nuggets’ second-leading scorer.

“I can’t give you everything, man,” Murray responded to The Denver Gazette’s inquiry about his priorities when playing against Oklahoma City’s group of strong, physical defenders led by Luguentz Dort.

Murray was kind enough to identify a small reason for his efficiency on the night he finished with 34 points on 11-of-22 shooting.

“Just use their aggressiveness against them, and then play with my own aggression,” Murray continued. “When the shot is dropping, it obviously makes everything easier. It makes me a tougher cover.”

That wasn’t the case early in Denver’s 140-127 victory over the Thunder. Murray made just one of his first six shots, and it looked like another night where he would struggle against the team with the league’s best defensive rating. Murray failed to crack 20 points in his six previous games against the Thunder and shot better than 43% from the field in one of those contests.

Nuggets coach Michael Malone credited Murray and his screeners for breaking the trend.

“Lu Dort is an All-Defensive team type of player. You have to create separation. You have to give him (Murray) room to operate. I felt his teammates gave him some of that tonight,” Malone said.

“Jamal was aggressive. He looked very comfortable out there. He was finding his spots, stepping into his shot, shooting it with confidence.”

Malone often says an aggressive Murray is a good Murray. After missing his first three shots, Murray attacked Chet Holmgren and hit a step-back jumper over Oklahoma City’s 7-footer to get on the board a few minutes into the game.

A couple of more misses followed, but Murray persisted. He made seven of his next eight shots. That stretch started late in the first quarter and continued through the opening minutes of the third quarter. It included driving layups, tough shots from the midrange and two of his three made 3s on the night.

Murray’s final bucket accounted for the final points of the night. He finished with a game-high in field goal attempts and also was perfect nine free throws. The 28-year-old said he gauges his aggressiveness by the number of shots he gets, not free throws.

“That speaks to how often or how consistent I’m getting an attempt or involved in the action,” Murray said. “We play so much random basketball, and we have so many guys on our team that can get it going, it may not be my night all the time, you know what I’m saying? I might get lost for a little bit, but it’s for a good cause. It’s not taking myself out of the game for no reason.”

Murray’s big game allowed the Nuggets to split the four games against Oklahoma City this season, though he missed their second meeting of the season. In their final matchup of the regular season, Murray scored more points than the two previous matchups against Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Dort, two of his teammates on Canada’s Olympic team this summer, combined. After going 10 for 30 against his countrymen to start the season, Murray’s mostly secret approach made for a more enjoyable experience Monday.

“It’s always fun to play against a fellow Canadian, Lu, as well. You can trash talk a different way,” Murray said. “You can kind of mess with each other, and it’s all love. It’s always fun.”