DALLAS – Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray was sent off after what appeared to be a deliberate shot into the groin area of the Dallas Mavericks’ Tim Hardaway Jr. in the second half of their game on Monday evening.
Murray stumbled backward after the pair collided when Denver attacked. Murray got up and reached with his right arm between Hardaway’s legs, doubling Hardaway.
The referee closest to the contact person whistled to stop play at 4:51 am in the third quarter and conferred with the other referees. The first call was a violation against Murray, and it was upgraded to a blatant violation 2 on a video review.
Nuggets coach Michael Malone said after his team’s 117-113 win that he had not seen a rerun of the incident, but that he was told by crew chief Zach Zarba that the decision to upgrade the error to a blatant 2 “is pretty obvious. ” used to be.
“Hopefully it will be nothing more than that Jamal will be sent off tonight and we can use it as a learning experience,” said Malone.
Murray had 16 points when he was sent off, the same team-leading total from half time.
The Nuggets were leading 80-73 when the game was stopped, and Hardaway scored the next seven runs in just 23 seconds to get the Mavericks before taking their first lead since the start of the first quarter. However, the Nuggets gathered.
Just play the game and I guess so [Murray] was just frustrated that they hadn’t made a mistake, “said Hardaway.” I tried my best to decline the ball. The rest speaks for itself. It happens in the game. It’s stupid, but right now it doesn’t even matter. We lost. “
ESPN’s Tim MacMahon and The Associated Press contributed to this report.