Tag: Jamal Murray

Timberwolves’ Nickeil Alexander-Walker was smiling in the middle of shutting down Jamal Murray

Alexander-Walker and Jamal Murray will be teammate on Team Canada in the Olympics.

The Timberwolves absolutely dominated the Nuggets in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals.

It was a particularly difficult game for Jamal Murray, who did not play well and was visibly frustrated while on the court. He seemed noticeably impacted by Minnesota’s incredible defense, finishing the game shooting just 3-of-18 from the field.

Murray was defended by Timberwolves guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker (acquired as a throw-in at the trade deadline last season) during the contest and it didn’t go well. During the series, the Minnesota guard has defended Murray very well thus far. He had three blocks in Game 2 against Denver.

RELATED: The Timberwolves have the Nuggets completely against the wall and Nikola Jokic has nowhere to run

In fact, while defending Alexander-Walker, the 25-year-old looked thrilled.

He seemingly couldn’t stop smiling guarding Murray, which is a special kind of sinister reserved only for the biggest matchups.

Alexander-Walker, a cousin of Oklahoma City’s Shai Gildeous-Alexander, represented Canada in the 2023 FIFA World Cup. He and Murray, both from Ontario, will soon be teammates on the Canadian national team in the Paris Olympics this summer.

[lawrence-auto-related count=5 category=1373]

Tim Legler roasted Jamal Murray for his silly (and incredibly inaccurate) heat pack toss

What a brilliant roast of Jamal Murray.

Monday night was a rough one for the reigning NBA champion Denver Nuggets and Nikola Jokic. Denver officially fell behind 2-0 in its second-round series with the juggernaut Minnesota Timberwolves and looked utterly lifeless in the process. The player who probably had the toughest night was Nuggets point guard Jamal Murray.

While getting flustered by the aggressive Minnesota defense, an injured Murray started cracking under the pressure. Things boiled over so much that he even threw a heat pack at referee Marc Davis from the sideline. According to Bennett Durando of the Denver Post, the incident is reportedly being reviewed by the league.

ESPN analyst Tim Legler had a unique take on the bizarre situation.

He used Murray’s abysmal Game 2 performance (3-of-18 from the field! more turnovers than assists!) to roast him over missing Davis with the heat pack:

Oof. Man. How do you ever live this down if you’re Murray? Not only did he get rattled in a big game, he completely lost his composure in the worst possible way. Roasts like this from Legler are well-earned.

The Timberwolves have the Nuggets completely against the wall and Nikola Jokic has nowhere to run

Nikola Jokic has to wear the most embarrassing loss of his career.

DENVER — Every NBA great has at least one truly embarrassing loss on their resume. Michael Jordan against the “Jordan Rules” Detroit Pistons. LeBron James against the 2010 Boston Celtics at the end of his first stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Magic Johnson against the 1981 Houston Rockets, falling way short of a surprise title defense. It doesn’t matter how exceptional you are. Eventually, you can’t avoid that one glaring blemish people will never forget.

For Nikola Jokic, it might be the 2024 Minnesota Timberwolves.

Monday night was a must-win game for the reigning NBA champions. The math on teams winning a playoff series after falling down 2-0 is so short, but it’s not impossible. The math on teams advancing after losing the first two games at home?

We’re almost talking about seeing Haley’s Comet again before that happens.

Yet, despite the situation, despite his knowing that Jamal Murray is nowhere near full capacity with a calf strain, necessitating that Denver somehow get more from its likely three-time MVP, Jokic laid a massive egg on national television. Sixteen points. Thirteen shots (just five in the first half). Four turnovers. Against a relentless and confident Minnesota squad that is tailor-made to stop him — that played without likely four-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert — Jokic wilted at the first sign of adversity.

He took one punch, checked out, and so did the Nuggets in defeat.

Jokic’s postgame press conference trying to diagnose a 26-point loss that never felt all that close didn’t help matters. He sure sounded defeated.

When asked to clarify his Game 1 comments about how “losing doesn’t motivate him,” Jokic took a long, awkward pause before eventually settling on winning actually, in fact, motivating him. Sure. Later, he couldn’t pick a concrete answer for why the Timberwolves, who look like the NBA Finals favorite after a 6-0 start to these playoffs, have had him and the Denver offense so stymied.

“Maybe we are trying too much just by driving into a lot of people,” Jokic explained. “I think we can help each other, just trust the pass a little bit more. But one part is they are physical, and they make you play that way.”

It didn’t get much better. When asked about how he expects his team to respond from its disastrous 0-2 hole for Friday night’s Game 3 in Minneapolis, Jokic shrugged his shoulders and shook his head.

“I don’t know. We will see.”

Jokic is going to wear Monday night for a long time. Unless Denver achieves the unfathomable and somehow takes four of the next five games to beat these ravenous Timberwolves, there is no other reasonable conclusion. These kinds of disinterested, frustrated efforts do not fade into obscurity from the mind of your average NBA basketball aficionado. They are the types of losses that linger and make you question everything you thought you knew about an all-time great.

“Yeah, he got that title, BUT maybe he really could be victimized in the pick and roll.”

“Yeah, he won three MVPs, BUT that one game against the Timberwolves. Woof.”

“Yeah, he’s a great leader, BUT it sure seems like he did sometimes quit when his team needed him.”

It’s unfair, given the status of Murray’s health (and other questions) on an already thin Denver roster, but that’s the deal when you’re the star player. This is the unofficial contract the “best player in the world” signs. Either come through for your team at all costs, or wear the embarrassment for everyone to see. It’s never been about being fair.

Minnesota’s leader, Anthony Edwards, wasn’t convinced Jokic and the Nuggets are quite down and out after Monday night’s humiliation.

Right now, he might be the only one who still thinks so.

“That’s the defending champs over there,” Edwards said. “They’re not gonna come out and play like that again. We gotta be ready to take their punch.”

A frustrated Jamal Murray bizarrely threw a heat pack onto the court during Timberwolves-Nuggets

What are you doing, Jamal Murray?

As the Denver Nuggets struggled against the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 2 of the Western Conference’s second round, Jamal Murray got a bit frustrated on the bench.

Rather than just use his words, Murray picked up a heat pack and threw it onto the court during game action. Yes, really, he threw a heat pack onto the court, and he didn’t get fouled for it. We’re not making this up.

The TNT broadcast crew sounded just as confused as you’d expect, as an NBA player throwing something on the court in protest during live game play is just pretty dangerous and completely avoidable.

Why did Murray do this? We honestly don’t know, and we’re sure the NBA will talk with him about this after the game. This could’ve gone poorly if a player had tripped on it and gotten injured.

We get that Denver was not in a great spot, but c’mon, this is just silly for Murray to do in an NBA playoff game.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1373]

Nikola Jokic’s dry joke about the Timberwolves’ big men sets the stage for the Nuggets’ toughest test yet

Nikola Jokic always tells the truth.

The Denver Nuggets are the reigning NBA champions with Nikola Jokic, the best player in the world and the likely soon-to-be three-time MVP. They will need him to start playing like it to advance past the resurgent Minnesota Timberwolves, a fellow NBA Finals-caliber opponent.

And he knows it.

On Saturday night, after the Nuggets dropped a disappointing Game 1 at home, Jokic predictably played it cool during his postgame press conference. Even though the Nuggets got off to yet another slow start and were “out-clutched” by Anthony Edwards and his friends, Jokic didn’t seem all that troubled. This sort of even-keeled approach has served him well in his nine-year career.

But Jokic’s dry joke about Minnesota’s three primary big men — Rudy Gobert, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Naz Reid — was revealing. While undoubtedly intended as respect for his opponent, it was probably also Jokic acknowledging the tall (pun not intended) test in front of him and his team:

Jokic isn’t lying. Denver could use another viable big man, even just some spot minutes, to throw into its rotation. Because what the Timberwolves can do to the Nuggets that most other teams can’t is throw three different high-quality big men at him.

Gobert is a likely soon-to-be four-time Defensive Player of the Year. Towns is one of the most gifted seven-footers in basketball. Reid won this season’s Sixth Man of the Year honors. Even with Gobert and Towns both fighting foul trouble on Saturday, Reid came in and scored 14 fourth-quarter points while doing an admirable job defending Jokic. Meanwhile, Jokic had his second straight game with at least seven turnovers, showing that he might be cracking at carrying a heavy burden for Denver while Jamal Murray nurses a calf strain.

Should that sort of mix continue, with Minnesota’s bigs collectively trying to wear Jokic down, the Nuggets’ title defense may not last much longer. If their inconsistent play doesn’t tell the story here, then the fact that they now trail in a playoff series for the first time in two years should. In due time, they may well illustrate why it’s so hard to repeat in the NBA.

Still, there remains hope for Denver.

Jokic is seldom this uncharacteristically sloppy for long stretches. With his and the Nuggets’ backs against the wall, they have usually responded very well during this era of Denver basketball with this core. When push comes to shove, the Nuggets are doing the shoving. It’s more that they haven’t had to answer this kind of adversity in a while.

The 2020 version of the Nuggets came back from consecutive 3-1 series deficits against the Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Clippers. In 2021, without both an injured Murray and Michael Porter Jr., a severely undermanned Denver squad beat the Portland Trail Blazers after also losing Game 1 of the series at home. Heck, even during last year’s Finals, and even though they were definitively the better team, Denver rebounded from a disappointing Game 2 defeat at home to the Miami Heat to storm back and take both matchups in South Beach before eventually winning its first title in franchise history in an emphatic five games.

The Timberwolves might be different. Even beyond Minnesota’s three-headed Cerberus of bigs, Edwards is a matchup problem that Denver doesn’t have a definitive answer for. In all honesty, most teams might not have an answer for Minnesota’s strengths, which is why it wouldn’t be surprising to see it win this series.

But for now, it’s just one game and one loss. It doesn’t pay to ride the emotional highs and lows of what could be a long series, as some Nuggets veterans professed on Saturday. That is, provided they even things up at 1-1 on Monday.

Denver still has Jokic, perhaps the one player in the league who could really dig deep, go into overdrive, and turn this series into the all-out war most everyone still expects. It’s hindsight in retrospect and might just be a moral victory, but the fact that the Nuggets held a four-point halftime lead and were tied with Minnesota late in the fourth quarter despite another poor Murray shooting effort should be encouraging.

The Nuggets can win this series, but Jokic and Murray have to start playing like Jokic and Murray. Jokic specifically must be the best player on either team, something that happened in each of those previous instances when opponents actually backed the Nuggets up against the wall. Murray, meanwhile, probably can’t leave the top three of the overall hierarchy by the time the dust settles. We have yet to see it this postseason but to advance to their third Western Conference Finals in the last five seasons, the Nuggets’ franchise players will have to bring their A+ game moving forward.

No questions asked.

These Nuggets have a precedent of responding with fury when they take a gut punch. It’s been a while since they took such a vicious body blow at the hands of a terrific opponent, even longer than these playoffs.

Now they have no choice but to respond in kind and deliver.

Jamal Murray shared the iconic moment LeBron James became one of his all-time favorite players

Jamal Murray’s favorite LeBron James moment is a REALLY GOOD one.

It’s always cool to see NBA stars show love for each other after an epic playoff battle. It’s probably even better when a younger star like the Denver Nuggets’ Jamal Murray shows so much respect for an all-time great like LeBron James.

After Murray ferociously dunked on James and made another game-winning shot in an emotional performance to help the Nuggets advance to the second round, the 27-year-old point guard couldn’t help but heap praise on James, who has been utterly exceptional for two decades and was flat-out superb while trying to take down the reigning NBA champions.

In his post-game press conference, Murray mentioned that he watched James as a kid while growing up in Kitchener, Canada. He had his Cleveland Cavaliers jersey and appreciated watching James do his thing. Murray made sure to highlight James’ legendary buzzer-beater game-winner during the 2009 Eastern Conference Finals, which was the moment the basketball legend became one of his all-time favorite players.

This is so, so cool, man:

Here’s what Murray had to say about one of the best moments of James’ career in full:

“I remember when I was a little kid, and he [James] was playing against Orlando [Magic] and he was in Cleveland [Cavaliers],” Murray started. “And I was wearing his [James’] jersey, and my barber was my dad’s best friend, and he got me a jersey for my birthday. I was trying to remember a time I could wear it, and I remember wearing the jersey while he was playing against Orlando and he hit that shot with one second left. I just remember talking to my dad, and I’m a little kid so I don’t know much, saying ‘There’s no way they’re gonna win, there’s no way they’re gonna win.’ Then I just remember him catching it and hitting it and I just remember being out of breath, like I got punched in the gut. I didn’t know to react. He’s been one of my favorite players.”

Here’s that iconic James’ game-winner, oh by the way:

James has been playing for so long and so well that not only is he going toe-to-toe with the best team in NBA basketball at age 39, but he’s also giving one of those team’s younger stars in Murray, an opportunity to talk about how much they inspired him to become a dynamic difference-maker in their own right.

If that isn’t sports poetry, I don’t know what is.

Nikola Jokic joked the Nuggets’ injuries were just an elaborate ruse to trick the Timberwolves

Nikola Jokic just wants everyone to THINK the Nuggets are hurt.

After a hard-fought five games with iconic dunks on legends, two game-winning shots (one over an all-worldly defender), and emotional coach-to-player heart-to-hearts, the reigning NBA champion Denver Nuggets finally survived their war of attrition with the Los Angeles Lakers.

With Jamal Murray battling a calf injury and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope spraining his ankle, the Nuggets advancing to the second round did not come without a cost. Fortunately, Denver has a very generous four days to rest up and heal before playing the rival Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.

But as Nikola Jokic joked right after the Nuggets’ series win over the Lakers, Denver actually just wants everyone to think they were hurt — especially the Timberwolves.

Could you imagine if the Nuggets’ ailments really were just an elaborate ruse? Imagine thinking something so utterly galaxy-brained.

Never change, Nikola Jokic, because this is absolute comedic gold.

Michael Malone shared the emotional talk he had with Jamal Murray about his injury before Game 5

Jamal Murray and Michael Malone have a special bond.

There were real questions about whether Jamal Murray would even play during Monday night’s Game 5 against the Los Angeles Lakers, let alone be effective. Murray answered the bell on a hurt calf with a clutch performance that included a vicious dunk on LeBron James and another game-winner, helping the reigning NBA champion Denver Nuggets advance to the second round of the playoffs.

Behind the scenes, the real tug-and-pull about Murray’s health seemed to come from Nuggets head coach Michael Malone.

In his post-game press conference, Malone revealed he had an “emotional” pre-game conversation with Murray about his availability for Game 5. It was probably the kind of discussion where a head coach has to strike the balance of looking at the big picture while one of his star players wants to compete and be there for his team at all costs.

Inevitably, Malone revealed that Murray told him he was glad he played because the Nuggets probably wouldn’t have won without him. The Denver coach agreed, calling that “the understatement of the year.”

You can find the sequence starting at the :13 timestamp below, courtesy of DNVR:

Here’s Malone’s thoughts on Murray’s heroics through his calf injury in full:

“For Jamal [Murray], to add to his playoff lore by having two game-winners in a series is just incredible,” Malone said. “The conversation before the game, without getting into too much detail, was an emtional one about him playing tonight. As he [Murray] just told me, he goes ‘I’m glad I played because I don’t know if we win if I don’t play tonight.’ I said, ‘Well that’s the understatement of the year,'” Malone laughed.

It’s obvious Malone and Murray have a special coach-to-player relationship, one that goes beyond the basketball court. Their bond shined through in a moment when the Nuggets needed it most.

Austin Reaves has defended Jamal Murray well in Lakers-Nuggets series

Lakers guard Austin Reaves has been criticized for his weak defense, but he’s been getting the job done lately against Jamal Murray.

After the Los Angeles Lakers won Game 4 against the Denver Nuggets on Saturday, it seems they have a slight chance to make this first-round playoff series at least somewhat competitive.

Perhaps the biggest key going into this series, as well as last year’s Western Conference finals versus the Nuggets, was containing Jamal Murray. Last year, Murray simply killed the Lakers by averaging 32.5 points a game as they were swept.

This year, Denver couldn’t sweep the Lakers, and perhaps it will have to return to Los Angeles for Game 6. A big reason the Purple and Gold have built double-digit leads in each of the four games in this series is because Murray has struggled. He’s shooting just 38% from the field and 20.8% from 3-point range thus far.

Austin Reaves deserves plenty of credit for Murray’s struggles. He has held the Denver star to 30.8% shooting overall in this series, per Jacob Rude of SBNation’s Silver Screen and Roll.

Reaves has been judged to be a weak link in L.A.’s defense all season. However, Murray hasn’t found himself with as many good looks, especially off pick-and-rolls and dribble handoffs, as he did in last May’s Western Conference finals.

Video showed the incredible reaction to Jamal Murray’s Game 2 buzzer-beater from the Nuggets broadcast

Jamal Murray’s buzzer-beater made the Nuggets’ announcers lose their minds.

Any time an NBA team comes back from 20 points down to win on a buzzer-beater, it will understandably have everyone go absolutely wild. The Denver Nuggets’ local broadcasters were no exception to this rule after Jamal Murray hit an iconic game-winning shot to beat the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 2 on Monday night.

In a new video courtesy of Altitude Sports, the camera is fixated on Nuggets’ play-by-play Chris Marlowe and color analyst Scott Hastings as they watch Murray make his move on (a later frustrated) Anthony Davis. When the ball finally swishes through the hoop, an elated Marlowe and Hastings practically have an out-of-body experience trying to describe the chaotic scene.

Judging by the sheer pandemonium at Denver’s home arena, they weren’t the only ones:

Man, that is special. It is these kinds of legendary moments that make sports worth watching. It is these kinds of legendary moments where even the announcers are utterly flabbergasted at what they just witnessed.

Featured image courtesy of Altitude Sports