Jamal Murray’s actions deserved a suspension, not a fine

Jamal Murray (27) of the Denver Nuggets sits on the floor awaiting a call against Karl-Anthony Towns (32) of the Minnesota Timberwolves during the first quarter at Ball Arena in Denver on Monday, May 6, 2024. The call would not come, leading to an outburst from Nuggets head coach Michael Malone. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)

We started Monday talking about Rudy Gobert’s first baby and spent Tuesday discussing how Jamal Murray is acting like a toddler.

Is it any wonder the Nuggets are down 2-0 in the Western Conference semifinals?

They disintegrated before our eyes against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Unable to match their opponent’s physicality, the Nuggets stomped their feet and demanded a life raft from the referees in Game 2.

The only thing more embarrassing than the end result was the Nuggets’ actions. After making their case eloquently in the first quarter, especially coach Michael Malone, the plea should have been unworthy of them. We all agree there were several bad calls and no calls. But let the fans roar in disgust. Instead, the Nuggets used this as a convenient excuse to get a slap in the face.

The Timberwolves respect the champion but are not afraid of him and run over, through and around him.

Instead of countering, the Nuggets responded like the Lakers, throwing their arms in the air and sarcastically clapping their hands and whistling.

And that was her best behavior.

What Murray did in the second quarter was aptly summarized by Timberwolves coach Chris Finch as “inexcusable and dangerous.”

Murray deserved a one-game suspension. Unsurprisingly, the league didn’t have the guts to give it to him. Instead, Murray was fined $100,000 on Tuesday for “throwing multiple objects toward a game official during live play.”

He got away easily. This is not a hot opinion, but rather a conclusion based on the totality of his actions. Murray made the money sign in front of a referee, a gesture that earned Gobert a $100,000 fine in March. Then Murray completely lost it while sitting at the end of the bench. With 4:57 minutes left in the second quarter, he threw a towel in the direction of referee Marc Davis.

While one might give Murray the benefit of the doubt as he pumped his fist in frustration and the towel came loose from his grip, what he did next undermined his defense.

Sixteen seconds later, a video clearly shows him throwing a heat pack in Davis’ direction, which reached the court as players fought on the sidelines. It came close to Karl-Anthony Towns’ feet and was eventually picked up by Nuggets guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and thrown out of bounds.

The good news is that no one was injured. Based on my social media feeds, many believe this excuses Murray. No harm, no foul, although unusual accidents can and do happen. His intention was to hit the officer, so no big deal, right?

Well, any fan who throws an object onto the field will be ejected. How is this different? In fact, after Murray’s heat pad toss, the PA announcer reminded the crowd of the rules and guessed that’s how the object ended up on the floor. I wonder if Murray wanted to be thrown out. We remain uncertain as he left on Monday without addressing the media.

Davis, the team’s boss, stated that if he had known Murray had fired the heat pack, he would have received a technical foul but not an ejection. An ejection, according to Davis, requires a determination that the object was “thrown directly at someone and was not thrown out of frustration.”

For this reason, many NBA experts believe Murray avoided a suspension. There is no specific rule against what he did. Do we really need Section A, Roman Numeral V to remind players that they are not allowed to throw objects onto the field during live action?

Its absence represents a gap rather than logic.

In a moment of anger, Murray put players in danger. It would have been easy to suspend him for Game 3. There is such a thing as a precedent. The Miami Heat, in consultation with the NBA, suspended Dewayne Dedmon for one game last season for hitting a chair so hard during live play that it catapulted a Theragun massager near midcourt.

However, nothing is ever linear with the NBA. Their decisions are always arbitrary and seem self-serving. And of course, the league didn’t want the defending champions to play Game 3 against the Timberwolves without their second-best player. I hope Nuggets fans remember this when an opposing star acts like this against his team in the future.

The strongest argument for Murray only receiving a hefty fine remains his resume.