Does Game 7 of Nuggets vs. Timberwolves come down to Jamal Murray? Now he has another injury
Denver Post
MINNEAPOLIS — Running into a Rudy Gobert screen can feel like colliding with a brick wall. For Jamal Murray, the result was a lot of pain and a lot of bricks.
Murray attributed his 4-for-18 Game 6 performance to a right elbow injury that he sustained on a screen two possessions into the loss Thursday night at Target Center. The Nuggets trailed by as many as 50 in a 115-70 defeat, their worst playoff loss in franchise history by point margin.
Murray never exited the game due to the injury, but he was shaken up immediately, flexing his right arm on the court during live play to test how the elbow felt. He said he put numbing cream on the elbow when he went to the bench, “just so I didn’t have to feel it every time I extended it,” but it didn’t feel better for the rest of the game.
When asked if the injury was the type of stinger that should recover with two days off before Game 7, Murray said, laughing: “I mean, I hope. I hope for our team’s sake. I hope for my team’s sake I can get it right.”
Murray has also been dealing with a left calf strain since the first round of the playoffs. Add this to the pile of injuries he’ll have to overcome when the Nuggets host an elimination game Sunday. Similarly to with his calf, Murray said he can’t treat the elbow as an excuse going forward. He expressed confidence that Denver can take care of business in the winner-take-all game.
“Everybody gets hurt. Ant (Anthony Edwards) just got hurt,” Murray said, referring to the hard landing Edwards played through in Game 6. “It was just the fact that I was shooting the ball. That’s what I do most. So I was never really getting into my rhythm again, and my team obviously needed me to tonight. And I didn’t. So I’m disappointed in myself for not being able to give them the right production that I know I can.”