Monday certainly was not Jamal Murray’s finest day to say the least.
The Denver Nuggets star Murray had a horrible, no-good, very bad Game 2 against the Minnesota Timberwolves. He shot a miserable 3-for-18 from the field to finish with eight points as Denver got waxed on their home floor by the final score of 106-80. As a result, the Nuggets are now down 0-2 in the series, having lost both games at home as they now head to Minnesota.
During the first half of the game, Murray sparked backlash by throwing a heat pack onto the court from the bench area out of frustration. He did so during live play, making contact with multiple players under the basket (video here).
Murray was not given a technical foul or any other punishment though, and it appears that he got away with a second instance of throwing something onto the court during the game as well. Video went viral after the contest showing Murray apparently throwing a towel towards referee Marc Davis, who had his back turned at the time. The towel landed behind Davis’ feet and ultimately went unnoticed (except by a team staffer who promptly collected the towel).
Ryan Eichten of SB Nation shared the video.
Not only did Jamal Murray throw a heat pack on the court, but he throw a towel as well a few plays early at 4:57 in the 2nd quarter pic.twitter.com/nCucPcGiul
— Ryan Eichten (@REichten) May 7, 2024
The towel throw also occurred in the second quarter, only some 12 seconds before the heat-pack throw by Murray.
Here is the full sequence where you can see Murray twice throw items onto the court from the bench pic.twitter.com/UQM3d1RSSa
— Ryan Eichten (@REichten) May 7, 2024
Just like his head coach Michael Malone, Murray was openly frustrated with the officiating during the game. At one point, Murray seemingly even made the money sign in reference to the referees.
Did Jamal Murray make the money sign at the official? 🤔
Rudy Gobert was fined $100,000 for making the gesture at the officials 2 months ago.pic.twitter.com/ObR2txfLLV
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) May 7, 2024
Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch sounded off on Murray’s heat-pack incident after the game, calling it “inexcusable and dangerous.”
“It’s inexcusable and dangerous… Certainly can’t allow that to happen.”
Chris Finch on Jamal Murray throwing the heat pack during the game 🗣️
(via @SneakerReporter)pic.twitter.com/kHW2EpgvaF
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) May 7, 2024
Murray was very fortunate that he avoided any in-game discipline for his actions on Monday. But once the NBA reviews all of his behavior, Murray could be facing a fine or possibly even a suspension.
