LOS ANGELES — Denver Nuggets players and coaches continued to brush off any chatter about Jamal Murray’s late-game incident involving Luke Walton and the Lakers on Friday ahead of their rematch Tuesday night.
“It ain’t real. That’s some suburban beef, man,” Will Barton said following Tuesday morning’s shootaround. “Come on. Somebody’s mad about somebody getting hot and talking a little bit? That happens every day in the NBA.”
Still, the Nuggets insist that they’ll be ready for whatever the Lakers throw their way.
The “suburban beef” Barton referenced gained legs in the two team’s last matchup when Walton fired obscenities at Murray on his way back to the bench after a timeout was called with 19.8 seconds left in regulation. Afterward, Walton called Murray “disrespectful” for supposed trash talk that he engaged in with Laker players.
Lakers point guard Lonzo Ball said the end-of-game incident stemmed from the two team’s previous meeting in December when Murray dribbled around Ball in what many deemed a showboat move with just seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.
“Ain’t nobody worried about him. We all remembered it,” said Ball, who finished with 15 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. “It’s a punk move, but like I said, ‘We’re not going to get into it.’ Just let him do whatever he wants to do.”
“I don’t really worry about Jamal Murray,” Ball added. “… He’s gonna do the circus stuff. I’m not really feeding into it.”
Nuggets coach Michael Malone is just hoping his team can focus on their main goal in L.A.: getting a win.
With just 15 games remaining, Denver would be out of the playoff picture if the postseason began today. The Nuggets, Jazz and Spurs all have identical 37-30 records, but because Denver went .500 in both its season series against Utah and San Antonio, the Jazz currently hold the tiebreaker over the Nuggets based on conference record.
“I’m not even going to talk about it. I think its gotten too much freaking run,” Malone said. “Jamal Murray’s a young player. We beat them. They’re upset at him. Let them do whatever they got to do. We’re here to handle our business, and it’s not about Jamal Murray, it’s about the Denver Nuggets trying to get a road win against the L.A. Lakers.
“We’ve just got to go out and play our game. Obviously, we’ll see what kind of personality the game takes on. You have to always be ready to react to whatever the game kind of takes shape, but I’m not going into this game worried about Jamal Murray or Lonzo Ball or Luke Walton. I’m going into the game worried about the Denver Nuggets trying to get the road win with 15 games to go. And that has to be our sole focus. We can’t get caught up in the small-sided things. We have to keep an eye on the big picture, and with 15 games to go, the big picture is coming in here trying to get a win and whatever happens, happens. And we have to be ready for anything and everything.”
Murray scored a team-high 22 points against L.A. on Friday and added 20 more in a blowout 130-104 win over the Sacramento Kings on Sunday.
The 21-year-old, who isn’t one to lack confidence in just his second professional season, said he won’t change his approach in the Nuggets and Lakers fourth and final meeting this season.
“I’m just gonna play. I didn’t do anything in the second game. I can’t apologize for something I didn’t do. So I’m just going to go out there and play my game and hopefully get another win.”
