Earlier in the day on Monday, before he hit his second game-winning shot of the Nuggets‘ first-round series and knocked the Lakers out of the postseason, Jamal Murray wasn’t sure he would even suit up, writes Bennett Durando of The Denver Post.
Murray told reporters after the game that the team’s medical staff was hesitant to give him the go-ahead to play in Game 5 due to the left calf strain that had caused him to be listed as questionable. The star guard received clearance after pleading his case to head coach Michael Malone and team VP of sports medicine Steve Short in a meeting that Malone described as “emotional,” per Durando.
“I came a little earlier today just to see if I was gonna be able to go. And I felt like I could,” Murray said. “And they just didn’t want me to risk it. They told me no. They told me no. And I didn’t say no. I just didn’t want to leave my teammates out there. We’ve been battling all season. Everybody’s hurt at some point. Everybody’s going through something. And I just wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I wasn’t about to play this game. … I’m just glad they listened to me. They listened to me listening to my body.”
Although Murray made it through the night with no setbacks and led the Nuggets to the victory with his game-high 32 points, his health situation hasn’t been resolved, according to Durando, who notes that calf strains don’t disappear overnight. Still, Murray’s heroics ensure that he and the Nuggets will have four days off before they host the Timberwolves on Saturday in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals, so there’s some time for the injury to heal.
Here’s more on the Nuggets:
- Murray wasn’t at his best during the first round, making just 40% of his shots from the field, including 29.4% of his three-pointers, but his big shots in clutch situations helped cement his place among the league’s all-time postseason performers, contends Tony Jones of The Athletic. “The bigger the moment, the bigger Jamal Murray shines,” Malone said. “He’s one tough cookie.”
- Murray isn’t the only Nuggets starter who will welcome the four-day layoff for injury recovery purposes. As Durando writes for The Denver Post, swingman Kentavious Caldwell-Pope left Monday’s game due to a sprained left ankle. He returned to start the second half and finished the game, but didn’t appear to be operating at 100%.
- Michael Porter Jr. enjoyed perhaps the best playoff series of his career in round one, buoying a Nuggets offense that struggled to score efficiently from beyond the arc, according to Tyler King of The Denver Gazette and Ryan McFadden of The Denver Post. The veteran forward made 20-of-41 (48.8%) three-point attempts vs. Los Angeles, while his teammates hit just 33-of-131 (25.2%). Porter’s success came during a tumultuous time for his family — his brother Jontay was recently banned from the NBA for gambling, while another brother, Coban, was sentenced to six years in prison due to a fatal drunk driving incident. “At the end of the day, this is basketball. I got way bigger stuff going on off the court,” Michael said. “To come in here with my sanctuary and be able to play well, it feels good. There’s a lot bigger stuff going on than this.”
Has Malone lost faith in his bench? In game 5 only Reggie Jackson played more than 6 minutes, even with KCP playing on one leg. The front office needs to find a real replacement for Bruce Brown this offseason
His lack of faith in the bench is a problem – Christian Braun played exceptionally well down the stretch (at both ends of the floor), and now all of a sudden he can’t get a look. Malone absolutely cannot run his starters out there so heavily through the whole playoffs.
Braun is basically unplayable against the Lakers. LeBron absolutely eats him alive, and Ham was playing him 40+ minutes. Braun will get more run in the rest of the Nuggets playoff series where he can be more of a factor, especially in transition.
Malone didn’t run a deep bench in last year’s playoffs either. No one off the bench other than Brown, Green and Braun played more than 3 minutes across 5 games in the finals.
It was a winnable close game. Win the game, clinch the series then the starters have 4 days to rest instead of 2.
Malone also wasn’t managing this kind of injury load last year. Understand the desire to close an elimination game out, but he simply can’t run the starters into the ground continually – this year is a different scenario.
Murray is an absolute idiot for that. Yeah it worked out, but imagine he hurts it even worse and has to miss more than just last game? Yeah everyone would be calling him an absolute clown for that decision.
Just because it worked out doesn’t mean it was a good call
It could be cramping rather than a strain? Thus he could be day to day rather than out for a week or two to let it heal.
Nice story, but it doesn’t track reality. An injured player can only be cleared to play by the medical staff (not the coaches), and, while they might leave a lot up to the player, there is no chance they would cleared him for this game if there was a significantly greater than normal risk of a serious injury. If the decision for him to play last night was truly made just by the HC and the player, then there was no serious medical issue.
This is common sense. Do people here make serious medical decisions outside of the parameters set by medical professionals? If not, why would they believe that an NBA player that relies on his body for his living would do so, or that an NBA team with a 100 mm investment in a player would even permit him to, or, worse, leave it up to the HC. I think its too much 2k.
Congrats nugs , you are one tough cookie to crack
Also gotta give props to Porter jr , really made sone strides this year attacking close outs , from the mid range, and on defense as well
He was so consistent and dialed in this series and the X factor imo – Proud of how my Lakers handled the last week of the season and how they fought hard all series, Den was just tooo good