The Denver Nuggets miss out on Jamal Murray ahead of tonight’s back-to-back game. Last night, the Mile-High City took on the thriving New Orleans Pelicans and snatched a close win in an overtime thriller. Apparently, the point guard injured his ankle during the process and added another injury to the season. The Monday night matchup against the Phoenix Suns is a warm-up to the Christmas Day Game. Unfortunately, Murray would miss out.

According to Katy Winge’s report, Coach Michael Malone revealed that Murray had rolled his ankle during yesterday’s game. The team had spent time treating his injury but couldn’t get him game-ready before the tip-off. So, the star won’t lace up tonight. This is one of the many injuries that the former NBA Champion has sustained this alone.

Jamal Murray has already missed 5 games this season, dealing with a concussion injury and right hamstring inflammation. Apart from these injuries, the star has also been dealing with plantar fasciitis, which he revealed a few weeks after he returned from the hamstring injury. It’s the same discomfort that Anthony Davis has been dealing with in the Lakers. So, it’s safe to say that Murray wasn’t playing with his 100% fitness over the last few days.

However, the discomfort didn’t mean that he wasn’t giving his best. While we are clear when he rolled his ankle, Murray played the entire stretch last night, posting 27 points and 8 rebounds in 41 minutes. Importantly, he wasn’t just existing on the court. He turned out to be the driving force behind the clutch win.

When it’s time for clutch, Coach Malone heads towards Murray’s direction and he delivers almost every single time. Yesterday wasn’t any different. With 9 seconds remaining on the clock, Bubble Murray dropped a 20-feet step-back jump shot to tie the game and force the game into overtime. And the Nuggets managed to win.

Can the Nuggets pull it off without Jamal Murray?

Whenever Jamal Murray missed games this season, Russell Westbrook received a call to start the game. So far, he started 6 times for the Nuggets and proved to be a lethal asset. He has averaged 14.8 ppg, 8.7 apg, and 5.8 rpg in these six games. Nikola Jokic has indeed unlocked the prime Beastbrook with the uncanny trade. Moreover, he has made a significant impact off the bench as well, scoring 12.0 points per game with 6.4 assists per game.

However, there is one big drawback with Jamal Murray not on the court. Who will take the clutch shots. It has to ultimately fall on Jokic and the team can’t entirely rely on players, so it will force them into experimentation. So, unless the Nuggets don’t finish with a blowout or decent margin, it’s a tough task to win without Murray.

Above all, it’s important for the Nuggets to have a healthy roster before the Christmas Day challenge. We can expect the medical staff to work overtime to get Murray fit ahead of the Wednesday night challenge against the Suns. Before that, can the Nuggets defeat the Suns tonight? Let us know in the comments.