After all the hoopla from Monday night when the Nuggets rested Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, there was some pushback from NBA media. Monday night’s game against the Warriors was a marquee matchup of Western Conference contenders on national television. The game was on ESPN and a road game for Denver, which would trigger a possible investigation under the league’s new player participation policy.
Tim Bontemps went on ESPN’s Get Up and ripped the Nuggets for sitting out their two stars in the situation. He explained that in his mind the team could easily have chosen to rest Jokic and Murray in a previous game, like their home game against the Wizards on Saturday night.
Bontemps and other critics assumed that Jokic and Murray weren’t actually “injured” and just needed to rest. But Murray sprained his ankle in the Wizards game and Jokic has been hampered with an elbow and ankle injury for weeks.
Sure, maybe they could have played if it was a playoff game, but it wasn’t. The Nuggets shouldn’t base important decisions on NBA ratings and trying to appease a new, experimental policy; they should be doing what’s best for the team to get ready for a deep playoff run.
Nuggets rest Jokic and Murray again on Wednesday
Well, if there was any doubt about the status of the Nuggets stars, they doubled down on the criticism and rested Jokic and Murray for yet another ESPN game on Wednesday night against the Lakers.
This is a hilarious move by the Nuggets, daring the league and their media partners to say something now as they’ve sat their stars for a second straight game, and another one on ESPN. I love that Denver is making a statement that they aren’t going to be bullied by the national media and the league.
The team clearly needs rest and the Nuggets shouldn’t be worried about seeding. The West standings are so tight that there’s no way to really manipulate first-round matchups. As long as the Nuggets avoid the play-in tournament, they shouldn’t care about seeding, or even homecourt advantage.
They should let the chips fall where they may and just make sure the team is healthy and well-rested. ESPN and everyone else be damned. If they have to eventually pay a fine, so be it. But, hopefully, reason and logic will prevail. The Nuggets and Jokic are not the right players to target for anger about load management.