Malone worried as Jamal Murray leaves Nuggets game with leg injury

Jamal Murray was questionable to play in Denver’s Saturday back-to-back against Chicago, the Nuggets star guard played anyway. He only lasted 10 minutes before leaving and not returning with a hamstring injury.

The Nuggets were able to win 123-101 without Murray anyway, speeding away from the Bulls in the second half thanks to 28 points Sombor Double from Nikola Jokic. Denver also got 27 points from Michael Porter Jr. 15 points, 12 rebounds and five assists from Aaron Gordon and a solid spell from Reggie Jackson, who scored 16 points in extended minutes.

“Really haven’t spoken to the training staff yet, but you always worry about those types of injuries because they can stick around for a while.” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “We have to be smart about it, we used Aaron Gordon and Reggie Jackson as our backup point guards.”

The Nuggets are amid an eight-game stretch over 13 days very early into the season. Now at 6-1, they’ve gotten along pretty well. The team has two more games left in the tight stretch, hosting New Orleans on Monday and Golden State on Wednesday.

“There’s been no (championship) hangover coming into the season,” Malone said Saturday night.

The issue with Murray’s legs has been going on for some time. Even before tearing his ACL at the end of the 2020-21 season, the point guard had been struggling with some injury issues. Then he missed two playoff runs an entire season and spent last regular season ramping up most of the fall. It took quite a while for the Blue Arrow to look tight but eventually, it all came together with an unforgettable playoff run.

“He’s been battling with his shins, still coming off the knee recovery from a year ago, and he plays 39 minutes tonight,” Malone said after Friday’s win against Dallas. “He plays the entirety of the fourth quarter. Not ideal, but I felt it was important to get this win, and he was a part of that.”

In six games this season coming into Saturday, Murray had scored 18.7 points per game, throwing a career-high pace of 8.7 assists a game while shooting 44%.

***