Jamal Murray and the Lakers: No love lost.
Jamal Murray of the Denver Nuggets, for the 2nd time in recent games is the object of disdain once again.
The first was a result of Jamal Murray shooting a 3 in the dying moments of a game against the Celtics.
Kyrie Irving in particular, felt strongly enough to hurl Jamal’s 48 point game ball into the stands. Too angry to stop to consider that his actions could end up harming a fan.
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(Thankfully, no fans were hurt during the filming of that game).
Last night, against LA, the Denver Nuggets point guard Jamal Murray, once again found himself being criticized. This time, (apparently) Lakers fans found Jamal waving Caldwell-Pope goodbye after he flew through the air following a Jamal Murray up-fake. A little, should we say, provocative.
History Repeats Itself
To the casual viewer it must all seem a little over-the-top. After all, a little wave never hurt anybody. However, the truth is Murray and the Lakers have had a long history of contention.
There was the time when Jamal dribbled the ball around Lonzo with seconds left on the clock.
Moreover, rather interestingly, even Isaiah Thomas in his brief time as a Laker seemed to share sentiments on Jamal with LA fans.
Basically, Jamal Murray and the purple and gold are somewhat like Shakespeare’s Montague and Capulet’s beef in Romeo and Juliet. A long-running feud full of back-and-forth battles with a beginning that’s hard to pinpoint.
Jamal Murray: Just Competing
Nevertheless, as far as last night’s game. Jamal was virtually blameless. After all, Jamal’s wave was far from a dirty play. It put no player’s health at risk and it came purely from a spirit of competitiveness that showed up all over the stat sheet. Whilst, Jamal Murray is shooting a career low 31.4% from 3.
Murray’s recent play indicates that we were right to assume Murray’s career high 48 points against the Celtics.
Was the beginning of a return to form from 3. Last night, in 34 minutes, Jamal put up 20 points, was 8 of 18 from the field, 2 of 5 from 3 (40%), was 2 of 2 from the free throw line, grabbed 3 rebounds and dished out 4 assists.
Given the Lakers play last night. It’s probably fair to say the Lakers play had Lakers’ Nation feeling frustrated. Factor in their shared history with Jamal Murray and it becomes easy to see why LA fans took aim and lashed out a familiar target. However, the fact remains, last night Jamal Murray did nothing wrong.
The Blue Arrow is most definitely back and quite happy to let his play speak for itself.