If it was not obvious enough in December, it certainly is now. Beef is clearly there between Jamal Murray and the Los Angeles Lakers.
It is frustrating enough that the Los Angeles Lakers lost to the Denver Nuggets 125-116 on Friday night. The Lakers’ inability to take care of the basketball sheds light on why they suffered the loss.
Although that is true, the loss is not the only facet of the game the Lakers are angry about. The purple and gold are also a bit peeved at Nuggets’ guard Jamal Murray. A bit is perhaps an understatement.
Lakers’ head coach Luke Walton was among the many that were infuriated with Murray’s late-game sideshow. Via ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk, Walton had the following to say about Denver’s 21-year-old.
"“I felt like for the second time we played here, Murray was being a little disrespectful at the end of the game,” said Walton, who would not go into specifics. “Just some trash-talking toward our guys.”"
While trash-talking is a normal part of the game, it is hard not to raise eyebrows when words like “disrespectful” are used. Walton possesses more of an old-school mentality, so such discourse is not new to him. Thus, to hear the ire in Walton’s voice clearly suggests Murray may have stepped out of bounds to some degree.
In this case, Murray appeared to hurl some not so kind insults toward the Lakers’ bench. Granted what Murray said is unknown, the shooting guard’s word choice ticked off Walton. Chris Thompson of Deadspin conjectures that Murray may have been rubbing it in.
Whether that is true or not, there came a stage when Walton was seen yelling at Denver’s bench.
Darryn Albert of Larry Brown Sports adds that this yelling on the part of Walton contained some “expletives.”
CBS Sports’ Jack Maloney recently reported that the episode is nothing new. Stemming from what happened during a Lakers-Nuggets contest in December, there was already bad blood between the squads. This only further validates Walton’s comments relative to Murray.
Maloney goes on to reveal more about what occurred during that December 2nd game. As Denver waited for the clock to expire in their win, Murray conceitedly dribbled around Lonzo Ball. This impolite action made multiple Lakers’ players awfully bitter.
One of those players was Julius Randle, who fouled Murray not too long after the showboating commenced. According to Bleacher Report’s Adam Wells, Murray said at the time that his flashy display was not smart.
"“I may have taken it too far. It was a bad play by me,” he told reporters. “The energy was so great and we had such a great game. Like I said, I may have taken it too far but the energy was great and I felt like we could do anything we wanted.”"
However, it is evident at this point that Murray’s behavior in December was nothing innocuous. The fact that he taunted the Lakers yet again late in a game indicates that a pattern is brewing.
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Kyle Kuzma is one who is very cognizant of the trend. He is no happier than the rest of the guys on his team, exhibiting that Murray’s style “is what it is,” via Youngmisuk.
"“It is what it is. That’s the type of player he is, but we’ve got another shot at it Tuesday, so looking forward to it,” Kuzma said. “Of course, anytime something like that [Murray dribbling around Ball] happens, you’re always going to remember it.”"
Ball, better than anyone else on the team, did not simply forget about Murray’s earlier actions, either. According to Bill Oram of The Orange County Register, Ball coined it as a bona fide “punk move.”
"“We all remembered it,” Ball said. “It’s a punk move. But like I said, we’re not going to get into it. He can do whatever he’s going to do. … He’s going to do the circus stuff, I’m not really feeding into it.”"
Considering that Ball is mild-mannered, to realize that Murray’s antics have lit a fire under Lonzo says something. No. 2 is not usually one to speak ill of anyone, making this situation all the more unique.
It is understandable that the Nuggets’ Murray is young at 21. With that in mind, it makes sense for someone that age to play with a chip on his shoulder. However, there are fine lines that must be drawn.
Murray, on the other hand, firmly asserted after the game that he did nothing wrong. Let alone that, Murray was not afraid to throw a not so subtle jab at the Lakers. Via Corey Hansford of Lakers Nation (originally courtesy of Oram), Murray said this about L.A. in the locker room.
"“I can’t control what the other team’s going to feel,” he said. “I’m just going to go out there and hoop and whoever takes it to heart and takes their losses salty, I can’t do anything about that.”"
Since the two teams meet again Tuesday night, the sour memories are sure to stay a bit longer.
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Granted the reasoning behind Murray’s hatred of the Lakers is unknown, the hate is present very much so. Accordingly, if the irked Lakers want to zip shut Murray’s mouth, obtaining a “W” on Tuesday would be a good start.