Devin Foster
Com 360
News Story 3
On Monday night during the game between the Golden State Warriors and the Denver Nuggets, a real disaster happened. With 50.6 seconds left in the game, Nuggets star point guard Jamal Murray tore his ACL when driving to the baskets to make the game just a five point difference. With the playoffs not too far away, this could turn out to be a real bad turn of events for the Nuggets team.
Losing any player before the playoffs begin for any team is never a good thing, but when it is your star point guard, and the person who takes the second most shots on the team, that can be a real shake up, and could throw off the team’s momentum.
During the season so far, Jamal Murray was averaging about 21 points a game, along with 5 assists, and 4 rebounds, while also making 2.7 threes a game and a steal a contest. While those are just alright numbers, Murray proved to the world during last seasons playoffs, he can be more than just an allstar, but he can play at an MVP level when it matters most.
During last season’s playoffs, Murray averaged 26.5 points a game, along with 6.6 assists, and 4.5 rebounds, while making 3.3 three pointers a game and a steal per contest. He led his team to a game 7 win against Utah in the first series, then in a comeback effort from a 3-1 deficit against the Clippers in the second series.
The team, having played in two straight 7 game series, ran out of gas during the Western Conference finals against the Lakers, but Murray showed that when it came to crunch time, he was, and is, the real deal.
However, now that he is out for the remainder of the season, it is hard to see the Nuggets making a real push for the finals. However when asked if he thought the nuggets chances were over, NBA analyst Stephen A. Smith said that he thinks that although Murray is gone, he thinks that the increase of shots for Will Barton and ascending offensive star in Micheal Porter Jr, could possibly keep them afloat. With Nikola Jokic, or also known as the Joker, having an MVP type of season, almost averaging a triple double, and with his ability to spread the ball around, the Nuggets could be okay if their role players step up and play well.
The hole they will have to fill in the playoffs will be deep though. None of the current players on the team have proven to be the closer that Jamal Murray is, except for maybe the Joker, but the younger and role players will be put in spots they may not be used to. However, you never know who can get hurt at any given point of the season, and it isn’t out of the question for the Nuggets to get out of the western conference just yet.