Jamal Murray concussed as Nuggets blow late lead to rival Wolves

Jamal Murray left the Denver Nuggets game early on Friday, entering concussion protocol after coincidentally colliding with Minnesota Timberwolves forward Julius Randle and teammate Aaron Gordon during the third quarter. While the Nuggets briefly thrived without the Blue Arrow overcoming a 15-point deficit, they blew a 10-point lead late the proved just how important Murray is in losing 119-116 to the Wolves.

The game was heated as a playoff rematch from last season with the Nuggets carrying a lot of emotions after blowing a 20-point lead in Game 7 of the second round last season. Mainly Michael Porter Jr. and Christian Braun blamed themselves for the series loss and the two stepped up big on Friday. Alongside Gordon and of course Nikola Jokic the four buoyed Denver and ultimately pushed Denver to a large late lead.

“We scored two points in the last five minutes, so we were able to execute and score down the stretch in Toronto and Brooklyn and tonight obviously, that wasn’t the case, which is unfortunate,” Michael Malone said. “Thought our guys played extremely hard and gave ourselves a lead in the fourth quarter and you just tip your cap to them.”

But that group, with the struggling Russell Westbrook on the floor late couldn’t manage to score a single point in the last 2:30 of the game as the Wolves went on a 10-0 run. The Wolves surged matched a 25-3 stretch from the Nuggets that was highlighted by a massive dunk from Braun that ended in a shoving match with Rudy Gobert sparking some of the rivalry aspects of this matchup. The third-year wing was a team-high +13 with 14 points and seven rebounds in the contest while adding some valuable defense in slowing Anthony Edwards.

oh dear pic.twitter.com/87fhM5z7Dn

— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) November 2, 2024

But Edwards got Porter switched onto him late for a critical driving bucket and Denver’s offense could do little more than barrel into a Wolves defense that was just sitting in the paint waiting for them. Without Murray’s shooting and that of the departed players, it’s a Nikola and non-shooters look for Denver a lot. Gordon did his share, hitting four threes and scoring 31 points while adding 11 rebounds. Porter did his thing too, hustling his way to 26 points on three triples with six rebounds and four helpers. But Westbrook’s spell of Murray started with the backup a team-worst -18 in the first half. Westbrook finished the game with just one make on eight shots while being a team-worst -13.

Somehow Westbrook wasn’t even the worst player off the Nuggets bench as backup big Dario Saric was pulled in favor of youngster Hunter Tyson. Saric is off to a terrible start, after being pulled from the Warriors rotation last season.

For his effort, Jokic had another shot at the buzzer miss, the second time in a Nuggets loss that a desperate attempt of his didn’t fall. Of course, he’s also hit a game-winner in Denver’s comeback against Brooklyn.

So no matter the huge efforts from Gordon, Braun Porter Jr. and, of course, Jokic—Denver’s bench spelled doom again. It was the third straight game the Nuggets came back from 15-plus points down. This one didn’t end in a win, but the efforts must be taxing, as we saw in last year’s comebacks against the Lakers before the Nuggets met the Wolves.

The big story for now is Murray’s injury. He likely won’t play in Denver’s back-to-back Saturday night at Ball Arena as the Nuggets host the Jazz. But now at 0-3 against west foes and with the Thunder and Mavs coming to the Mile High City next week, Murray’s status becomes huge.

“Took a really bad hit but he hasn’t heard anything about his status yet,” Malone said of Murray. “It was a pretty nasty hit.”

Here's the play where Jamal Murray was hurt, as @JonKrawczynski noted he is in concussion protocol pic.twitter.com/STXOviqorK

— CJ Fogler 🫡 (@cjzero) November 2, 2024