The Denver Nuggets committed a major blunder at the end of their loss to the Washington Wizards on Thursday night, and Jamal Murray took responsibility for his role in the mental lapse.
The Nuggets were trailing 112-110 with about five seconds remaining and had a 3-on-1 fast break opportunity. Rather than cut to the basket for what probably would have been an easy game-tying lineup, Facundo Campazzo and Michael Porter Jr. stopped at the three-point line. Murray kicked the ball to Campazzo, who missed the shot. You can see the video here.
Murray wasn’t as at fault for the play as Campazzo and Porter, but he held himself accountable on Twitter after the game.
“My fault Nuggets nation.. on to the next one.. STICK WITH US!!” he wrote.
Murray even shared an angle of how bad the play was:
This angle.. pic.twitter.com/VBCpMqTcEZ
— Jamal Murray (@BeMore27) February 26, 2021
Porter Jr. admitted he could have cut to the basket, but he defended the mentality of wanting to hit the game-winning shot.
“I looked at the play afterwards. One of us could’ve easily cut. Honestly, I could’ve cut and got a dunk,” Porter said, via Mike Singer of the Denver Post. “But we were just thinking, one of us is going to get a three. If the shot goes in, no one’s talking about it.”
Nuggets coach Michael Malone did a good job of summing up the blunder after the game. Porter is right that no one would have criticized the play if Campazzo hit the game-winner, but he didn’t. Taking a low-percentage shot was not the right decision in that situation.
