Jamal Murray was one of the best games of his season as his Denver Nuggets battled the Dallas Mavericks on Monday. He made three rebounds and two assists to go ahead with his three 11-shot 16 points while his Nuggets took a seven-point lead against the Mavericks, but he was ruled out for something unusually wrong.
The play came in the third quarter. Tim Hardway Jr. made just one tip shot and was defending Murray at the other end. Murray ran into the hardway and fell to the ground. When he went back, he was seen hitting the hardway in the jaw and quickly got out. Referees defined Flagrant-2 pride for being “blind and excessive contact” for Harddave’s groin.
Denver managed to advance to the wing against Dallas, but the story of the game was Murray’s ejection. While players often hit the area inadvertently, you rarely see a rated flag-2k for such a play. The closest major moment that comes to mind is when Dremond Green hits LeBron James in Groin during Game 4 of the 2016 NBA Finals. That play was only called Main-1, and Leela was only suspended because she had to collect a lot of flowers.
Murray may not be suspended for the play, but it will still be one of the more infamous moments of his young career. Shots for groin are rare, and that makes them memorable.
