Amid an awful start, Jamal Murray couldn't contain his frustration ... but somehow got away with it in the moment. Late in the first half, with the Timberwolves already leading by 17 points and Murray on the bench, the Nuggets star threw a heat pack onto the court mid-play.
The TNT camera shows Nuggets star Jamal Murray throwing a heat pack from the bench right into game action on the floor before a T-Wolves bucket. ⁉️ pic.twitter.com/btZp6dbtZR
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 7, 2024
Murray had been talking with officials throughout the half, and in this instance, even from the bench, he appeared to disagree, as Karl-Anthony Towns regained possession after a Michael Porter Jr. block. Towns would eventually score a few seconds later, and luckily no one got hurt slipping on the heat pack. The game was stopped momentarily to clear the heat pack from the court, but no discipline was handed out by the officiating crew.
Murray, who starred in the reigning champions' first-round win over the Lakers with multiple game-winning shots, has found it much tougher sledding against Minnesota's outstanding, physical defense. In Game 1, Murray went scoreless in the first half, and his 17 second-half points were not enough in an eventual 106-99 loss. In the first half of Game 2, Murray scored just two points on one-for-10 shooting.
The Nuggets trailed 61-35 at halftime, the largest home halftime deficit in franchise postseason history. The 35 points also represented the fewest the Nuggets have scored in any half this season, regular season or playoffs.
