Jamal Murray is slated to get treatment over the next 48 hours for the right thigh injury he reaggravated, which kept him out of the final 53 seconds of Game 2 against the Portland Trail Blazers, according to ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk.
The Denver Nuggets point man initially suffered the injury during the first-round series against the San Antonio Spurs, victim of many of Jakob Poeltl's punishing screens.
Murray went 2-of-8 from deep, finishing with 15 points and seven assists, forced to watch the last few seconds of a 97-90 home loss to the Blazers in Game 2.
“Those screens hurt,” Murray said. “It is what it is. It hurt for the rest of the game. Couldn't move, obviously, and coach [Michael Malone] had to take me out. I'm just going to get treatment and just be ready for Game 3. It was definitely hurting.”
Murray if hoping to “loosen up as much as possible” in the next few days, according to head coach Mike Malone.
“It's that right thigh area,” Malone said. “Obviously, I think it is still probably sore and bruised from last series, and he probably got hit there again.”
Murray was also at the center of a dust-up in the final seconds of this game, when Blazers center Enes Kanter was shoved into Torrey Craig by Nikola Jokic. Nuggets shooting guard Gary Harris took exception to that and confronted Kanter.
During the ensuing timeout with only 43.6 seconds left, Murray left the bench to confront Kanter, as both teams were separated to prevent it from escalating.
"This dude literally pushed me into his teammate. And then they started to get into my face…"@Enes_Kanter shares his side of what happened with Torrey Craig, Jamal Murray.#ripcity pic.twitter.com/2FZUUxqNzQ
— NBC Sports Northwest (@NBCSNorthwest) May 2, 2019
“There was nothing dirty about it,” Malone said. “The first play was inadvertent, and Torrey falls and winds up hitting Monte Morris' knee. There's nothing dirty about that. It's an unfortunate bounce for Torrey Craig.
“And the second one, Nikola and Kanter are tangled up in the paint, Kanter goes flying up the floor and runs into Torrey. I don't think there's any malice in either one of those plays. But listen: Both of these teams are trying to get to the Western Conference finals. It's going to be hard-fought and physical, but there is nothing dirty about it, and I respect that.”
Murray will have a chance to run this one back in the next two games, as the series shifts to the Moda Center in Portland, tied at 1-1.
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