Jamal Murray left Friday’s game between the Denver Nuggets and New York Knicks in the second quarter with an ankle injury. Murray stepped on Nikola Jokic’s foot while backtracking on defense and sprained his left ankle. He was in excruciating pain and had to be helped to the locker room.
It was another devastating injury blow for Denver, which has seen several starters, including Nikola Jokic, Aaron Gordon, Christian Braun and Cam Johnson, miss multiple weeks. Gordon and Johnson had just returned on Friday from long-term absences and the Nuggets had their starters available for the first time in four months.
With Murray going down, Denver might have to wait some more to see their first five together on the floor again. Here’s the video of his injury:
The Nuggets announced that Jamal Murray was questionable to return in the second half.
Jamal Murray doesn’t return, Nuggets collapse in second half
Jamal Murray never returned to the game in the second half. The Nuggets, meanwhile, suffered a colossal collapse in that period. The Nuggets trailed by 13 at the break. The Knicks maintained the lead midway through the third and extended their advantage in the later stages of the frame. New York had a 25-point advantage entering the fourth, which pretty much decided the game.
Nikola Jokic scored 38 points on 66.7% shooting, while no other player managed more than 12 points, which Murray scored in 17 minutes of action on 5 of 10 shots. The Knicks had a lead as big as 42 points before they won the contest 142-103.
Denver sorely missed Murray’s offense in that stretch. The All-Star guard was coming off a three-game stretch in which he averaged 32.7 points and 6.3 assists on 52/54/89 splits. Considering his start on Friday, Murray was on track to post another huge scoring total and help Denver secure a third straight win.
