Jamal Murray won’t face a suspension, but the NBA is fining the Nuggets star heavily for throwing a heat pack on the court

The NBA will not suspend Jamal Murray for throwing a heat pack on the ground during Monday’s Game 2 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, but it has fined him $100,000. The league announced this on Tuesday. Amid a terrible start, Murray couldn’t contain his frustration, and near the end of the first half, with the Timberwolves already leading by 17 points and Murray sitting on the bench, the Nuggets star threw a heat pack onto the court mid-game.

The referees didn’t notice at the moment, so Murray escaped without a technical foul during the game. Here’s a look at what happened in Denver’s eventual 106-80 loss.

Murray had been talking to the officials throughout the half, and in this case he even seemed to disagree from the bench when Karl-Anthony Towns regained possession of the ball after a block from Michael Porter Jr. Towns finally scored a few seconds later, and fortunately no one was injured when he slipped on the heat pack. The game was briefly stopped to remove the heat layer from the field, but the referees did not impose any disciplinary action.

After the loss, which dropped Denver to a 2-0 series defeat, head coach Michael Malone was asked about the incident.

“I wasn’t aware of that, so I really can’t comment on that,” Malone said. “If that’s the case, we’ll see what happens, but I wasn’t aware of that. I knew there was a heating pad on the floor, but it wasn’t in my line of sight.”

Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch also said he didn’t see Murray throw anything, but when he learned of the incident he found it “inexcusable.”

“I didn’t really see it, but when it was explained to me, the referees didn’t see it either,” Finch said. “They are unable to issue a technical report unless they see it. We tried to make it clear to them that there probably aren’t many fans in the building that have a heat pack, so it probably had to come from the bank they found.” Logically. But yes, it is inexcusable and dangerous.

“I’m sure it was just a mistake and an oversight. I’m sure there was no intention of the referee at all, but there’s no way we can allow this to happen.”

In a pool report shared on social media, referee Marc Davis said he didn’t know what was thrown onto the court until Towns scored. Had the referees known it came from the Nuggets’ bench, a hostile action review could have been initiated. This penalty results in a technical foul.

When asked why the punishment would be a technique and not an ejection, Davis said, “With an ejection, you would have to determine that it was thrown directly at someone and not out of frustration.” Even if that is unlikely , that Murray specifically targeted a Minnesota player, the act could still have resulted in a serious injury. However, this reality was avoided.

Murray, who starred with several game-winning shots in the defending champions’ first-round victory over the Lakers, has found it much harder to skate against Minnesota’s stellar, physical defense. In Game 1, Murray went scoreless in the first half and his 17 points in the second half were not enough in an eventual 106-99 loss. In the first half of Game 2, Murray scored just two points on 1-for-10 shooting. He finished the game with eight points on 3 of 18 shooting, although he grabbed 13 rebounds and had two assists and steals each.

The Nuggets trailed 61-35 at halftime, the largest home halftime deficit in franchise postseason history. The 35 points also represented the fewest the Nuggets have scored this half of the season, the regular season or the playoffs.