Nuggets point guard Jamal Murray starts Game 5 against Lakers despite strained left calf
DENVER (AP) — Nuggets point guard Jamal Murray started Game 5 of the defending NBA champions’ playoff series against the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday night despite a strained left calf.
Murray warmed up with an ice pack wrapped around his calf, which he hurt Saturday night, and Denver’s medical staff determined he was at low risk of aggravating the injury by playing in Game 5.
The Nuggets were up 3-1 in the series and trying to close out the Lakers, whom they swept in the Western Conference finals last year on their way to winning the franchise’s first NBA title.
The Lakers were trying to become the first team ever to bounce back from a 3-0 deficit in a best-of-seven series to advance.
Murray was injured in the second half of the Nuggets’ Game 4 loss at Los Angeles that snapped Denver’s 11-game winning streak against LeBron James and the Lakers.