Highlights

• The Denver Nuggets find themselves down 0-2 in a playoff series for the first time since 2021-22.
• Jamal Murray faced a $100,000 fine for dangerous actions on-court involving a heat pack being thrown into play.
• Murray's scoring numbers have dropped in the Timberwolves series so far, with the Nuggets needing him to find his rhythm to get the team back on track.

The reigning NBA champions Denver Nuggets find themselves 2-0 down in their Western Conference semi-final series against the Minnesota Timberwolves, and are looking to bounce back on the road in Minneapolis tonight.

But, there is an argument to be made that Nuggets guard Jamal Murray shouldn’t even be suiting up, after he was picked up by the cameras in game two, showing him throwing a heat-pack onto the court mid-play, as well as a towel, with league insider Mark Medina believing the point-guard was ‘very lucky’ to not have seen a suspension awarded for his behavior.

Trouble in Mile High City

0-2 down for the first time since the 2021-22 playoffs

The Nuggets haven't lost the first two games of a playoff series since the 2021-22 season, when they lost the first two games in the opening round against the Golden State Warriors, before going on to lose the series in five games.

Since then, they have won the franchise's first ever championship, and came into the 2023-24 regular season as one of the leading favorites once again.

While their playoffs started off with a 4–1 series win over the Los Angeles Lakers, the gentlemen's sweep doesn't show the true story of the series, where two clutch game-winners by Jamal Murray, including a buzzer beater in game two, is what ultimately swung the series in their favor. However, the Lakers actually led for much of the series, but ultimately couldn't hang on when it counted.

The Minnesota Timberwolves, though, are a completely different beast entirely, and led by Anthony Edwards, who has skyrocketed into the realm of stardom, and Karl-Anthony Towns, they have a wealth of All-Star caliber weapons, both offensively and defensively, who have dominated the Nuggets through the first two contests.

Not even the newly awarded 2023-24 Kia NBA MVP Nikola Jokić has so far been able to get into his rhythm, and in Denver's 106-80 blowout game two loss - and ultimately in the wake of their new-found adversity - they displayed their true colors loud and clear.

Their often calm and collected closer, Murray, had a rare tailspin as emotions ran high, in which he appeared to make money-gestures towards the officials, which has in the past brought fines to players, most notably the Timberwolves' Rudy Gobert.

But it was an act of stupidity, in which the Canadian threw a heat-pack which landed onto the court mid-play, and very close to the feet of Towns, which garnered all the attention, and largely overshadowed a dominant Minnesota win.

However, none of the officials appeared to notice the incident had taken place, and thus, Murray was not awarded any sanctions during the game, and would leave the arena without speaking to reporters.

Wolves head coach Chris Finch wouldn't stay quiet though, and ripped Murray's "dangerous" and "inexcusable" decision.

After the game, though, the evidence was reviewed, and the 27-year-old was issued with a $100,000 fine, though he avoided subsequent suspension.

What Murray Did Was ‘Inexcusable and Dangerous’

Medina sides with Wolves head coach Chris Finch's comments made about the Murray incident, and goes on to state that the $100, 000 fine he was given wasn't enough because of the potential danger to an opponent that his action may have caused.

Furthermore, the journalist criticizes the officials as he expected at least one of them to notice the incident, further going on that it was unsurprising as they went on to miss quite a few calls throughout the game.

“I'll echo what Chris Finch, the Wolves coach, said - he called it inexcusable and dangerous. Murray is very lucky that the officials didn't see it, and honestly, it's embarrassing for the NBA that none of the officials saw that he made that toss to the court with throwing the towel, and throwing the hot pack onto the court.

Fining him $100,000 - that's a slap on the wrist. In playoff games, in particular, you don't want suspensions to be thrown out there casually because it's a playoff game, but I would think that if the officials called this in time, he would have gotten immediately ejected.

So, it's just embarrassing. The Nuggets should feel lucky that all of the officials somehow missed it. But it's not surprising because they missed a lot of calls in that game.”

Sharp Drop-Off in Play

Averaged 23.6 PPG in Lakers series, averaging only 12.5 in Timberwolves series

For some reason, the playoffs reignite an additional spark in Murray, and throughout the Nuggets' first-round series against the Lakers, this looked to ring true once again.

In the five-game series, Murray averaged 23.6 points at a 40 percent shooting clip, 4.6 rebounds and 7.2 assists, though he struggled on the deep ball, averaging only 29.4 percent from behind the three-point line.

Through the first two outings against the Timberwolves, though, his scoring numbers have been slashed almost in half, whereby he is only averaging 12.5 points.

A key reason as to why he is struggling to tally points is due to taking significantly fewer shot attempts, averaging only 16.0 attempts per game, down from the 24.0 he took against the Lakers.

This could be attributed to the Wolves' stellar defense, in which they have posted a 105.5 defensive efficiency, which, in turn, has seen a huge drop in his shooting efficiency, averaging only 28.1 percent from the floor, and 25.0 percent from three-point range.

In game two, he went 0-for-4 from three, and only 3-for-18 from the field for a mere 16.7 percent from the field.

Now that he has been lucky enough to have avoided suspension, it is down to Murray to make amends to his team, as they seek to avoid being down in an 0-3 hole, which would make their quest to repeat as back-to-back champions even more difficult.

GIVEMESPORT Key Statistic: In game one of the Nuggets-Timberwolves series, Jamal Murray had the second-lowest FG% in a playoff game in Nuggets history (min 15 FGA) with 16.7 percent. Carmelo Anthony holds the lowest with 6.3 percent back in 2004.

Furthermore, if he is to help Jokić and company get a game back on the road, then he will need to find a way to dig in deep, and find his shooting stroke.

But, as he has shown time and time again, all he needs is to splash down just one shot before he is suddenly on course for a heat check, and the Nuggets need him more than ever to find that offensive spark once again, or their season could be over prematurely.

All statistics courtesy of Statmuse, ESPN, NBA.com and Basketball Reference.