MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Jamal Murray failed to make a fadeaway on Denver’s first possession and then tried a floater that spun around the rim and spit out in portending fashion.
Neither of those misses hurt the normally smooth-shooting Nuggets point guard like what came next for him on defense in Minnesota in Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals.
Murray hurt his right elbow trying to move around a high screen by Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert early in the first quarter of the 110-75 loss in Game 6. He could be seen shaking out the arm trying to loosen it up afterward.
“I was never really getting into my rhythm again, and my team obviously needed me to tonight, and I didn’t,” Murray said after the game, according to the Associated Press. “So I’m disappointed in myself for not being able to give them the right production that I know I can.”
Murray has had an up-and-down series against Minnesota. He went just 3-for-18 from the field in the Nuggets' Game 2 loss and was fined $100,000 for throwing objects onto the floor in frustration. Murray then shot 50% from the field during Denver's three-game winning streak before his 4-for-18 stinker in Game 6.
Murray came through in the clutch in the Nuggets' first-round series against the Los Angeles Lakers, hitting a buzzer-beating fadeaway to win Game 2 and a go-ahead floater in the closing seconds of Game 5 to seal the series.
Murray has been a regular on the Nuggets' injury report since Game 5 of the Lakers series due to a calf injury. He missed 23 games during the regular season due to multiple separate leg injuries.
Denver Nuggets Western Conference Semifinals schedule:
- Game 1: Timberwolves 106, Nuggets 99
- Game 2: Timberwolves 106, Nuggets 80
- Game 3: Nuggets 117, Timberwolves 90
- Game 4: Nuggets 115, Timberwolves 107
- Game 5: Nuggets 112, Timberwolves 97
- Game 6: Timberwolves 115, Nuggets 70
- Game 7: Timberwolves @ Nuggets, Sunday, May 19 (TBD, TBD)
