Coach reminds Nuggets they’re champs
After a difficult-towatch film session following their Monday night meltdown against Minnesota and an energetic practice Wednesday, Nuggets coach Michael Malone gave his team a stinging reminder and made a request.
“Guys, we’re the reigning world champions,” Malone said. “Act like it and play like it.”
They did neither in their 108-80 Game 2 loss to the Timberwolves, who took a 2-0 lead in the best-ofseven Western Conference semifinal series back to Minneapolis for Friday’s Game 3.
On Tuesday, the NBA fined Nuggets point guard Jamal Murray $100,000 (U.S.) for tossing a towel and heat pack onto the court “in the direction of a game official during live play” in the second quarter of Game 2.
Murray avoided a suspension, and also dodged any punishment for making a money sign at an official earlier. A similar gesture by Timberwolves centre Rudy Gobert in a March game drew a $100,000 fine from the league.
Murray, who has been slowed by a strained left calf, lost shooting touch and the paucity of whistles going his way, left Ball Arena without speaking to reporters after Games 1 and 2.
He met with the media Wednesday, but didn’t say much about the fine or the actions that endangered players on both teams and Marc Davis’ officiating crew.
“Nah, I mean it is what it is and I take everything in full responsibility, so on to the next,” Murray said when asked whether he had expected the fine and felt his punishment was appropriate.
Asked to expand on that, Murray said Wednesday: “Yeah, on to the next. I mean, two days ago, not much for me to say about it right now.”
On calls for an apology, Murray cut off the questioning with: “Do you have any basketball questions?”
Murray acknowledged the Nuggets lost their collective composure Monday night when the Wolves hounded them into a 35 per cent shooting performance even though their best defender — Gobert, who had just won defensive player of the year for the fourth time — was back in Minneapolis for the birth of his son.
“We’ve just got to be ready to play and not get frustrated with how the game goes sometimes, and we allowed it to take us out of our game,” Murray said.
The towel Murray threw landed at the heels of Davis on the baseline, but the heat pack skidded across the floor just as Karl-Anthony Towns was going for a layup.
Wolves coach Chris Finch called Murray’s actions “inexcusable and dangerous.”
“I’ve never seen that from Jamal; that was very uncharacteristic,” said Malone, who attributed it to “taking a charge and it’s not called, not making shots at the level we know he’s capable of making, being down 30 points to a team that we’re trying to beat to get to the Western Conference final.
“So, when you put it all in the boiling pot, that’s a lot to handle. And he didn’t handle it the way he knows he needs to handle it, and I’m sure he told you guys that.”
Malone said he showed the team nine Game 2 clips “that kind of encapsulated that game and why we lost, and our players owned it.”