Jamal Murray fined $100,000 and avoids suspension for throwing objects at an officer

The NBA has fined Jamal Murray $100,000 for throwing several objects toward an official during a playoff game between the Nuggets and Timberwolves, the league announced Tuesday.

Murray was able to avoid a suspension after the league reviewed the incident, sources told The Denver Post. He is eligible to play Friday in Game 3 of the second-round series, in which the Nuggets trail 2-0.

Murray was sitting at the end of the home bench in the second quarter of Game 2 when he threw what appeared to be a heat pack toward head official Marc Davis. The object flew past Davis, who was on the baseline, and landed near the feet of Karl-Anthony Towns, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Reggie Jackson during live play. Murray was frustrated with the referee’s performance throughout the first half, which turned out to be a 106-80 loss.

Davis was not aware that the item came from Denver’s bench, he said in a Pool Report interview, otherwise officials could have reviewed the incident under the NBA’s “hostile acts trigger.” A review would have resulted in a technical foul, but not a sending off.

“For an ejection, you would have to determine that it was thrown directly at someone and not out of frustration,” Davis said.

However, the NBA’s press release stated that Murray’s punishment was due to him throwing the heat pack in the direction of the official. The press release also mentioned “multiple items,” referring to a towel that Murray had also previously thrown at Davis during the same possession. Davis did not appear to notice the towel, which was collected by a person on the baseline later in the game.

The NBA Spectator Code of Conduct was shown on the Jumbotron at Ball Arena after the heat pack was thrown away on a dead ball. Timberwolves coach Chris Finch described the incident as “inexcusable and dangerous.”

“I didn’t really see it, but when it was explained to me, the referees didn’t see it either,” Finch said. “So they couldn’t call a technical foul unless they saw it. We tried to make it clear to them that there probably weren’t many fans in the building that had a heat pack, so it probably had to come from the bench, which they found logical.”

Nuggets coach Michael Malone said after Game 2 that he didn’t know Murray had thrown the heat package, but acknowledged that the Nuggets “lost control of our emotions” in their lowest-scoring game of the season.

Murray scored eight points in the loss, shooting 3-for-18 with just two assists and four turnovers. He has been dealing with a left calf injury since the Nuggets’ first-round series against the Los Angeles Lakers, although he made game-winning throws twice in that series.

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