The Nuggets have caught a break with their backs against the wall.
Jamal Murray will not be suspended for throwing a heat pack onto the court in frustration during Monday night’s brutal loss to the Timberwolves, The Athletic reported.
Instead, Murray will be fined $100,000 by the NBA, the report said.
There had been some concern that Murray might be forced to miss Game 3 in Minnesota on Friday night.
Already trailing 1-0 in the best-of-seven series, the Nuggets were down 17 points in the second quarter when the Denver faithful grew frustrated that referees missed an apparent traveling call on Timberwolves big man Karl-Anthony Towns.
Murray hurled his heat pack on the court in frustration as the Timberwolves proceeded to grab an offensive rebound and extend the lead to 19.
Murray is very fortunate that nobody on the Timberwolves, or his own team for that matter, slipped and fell on the heat pack and heaven forbid suffered a serious injury.
Murray struggled in the game, scoring eight points on an abysmal 3-for-18 shooting performance.
The Timberwolves ultimately won the game, 106-80, to take a 2-0 lead with two road victories to start the series.
The Game 2 win for Minnesota came despite the team missing Rudy Gobert, who just won his fourth NBA Defensive Player of the Year award on Tuesday, as he was present for the birth of his child.
Murray did not answer questions about the incident after Monday night’s game, leaving the Ball Arena before media availability.
The Timberwolves are -525 to win the series and the Nuggets are +400, according to the latest odds on DraftKings.
This would mean the odds imply Denver has just a 19.23 percent chance to win the series and continue its NBA championship defense.
