Jamal Murray has been reunited with the game ball from his 48-point performance during Denver's comfortable victory over the Boston Celtics on Monday. You may have seen or heard Jamal Murray dribbling the ball with his sights on a lofty 50-point-in-a-game milestone, chucking a clunker of a shot over Kyrie Irving's head, with the game comfortably in the bag.
Pro etiquette usually states that if the result of an NBA matchup is in the bag, players on both ends of the court are expected to run out the clock, with exception to extraordinary circumstances like Jamal Murray reaching for 50. The only issue with Jamal Murray's actions stems from the fact he was frustrating his defender all night long. Incidentally, Kyrie is struggling to find his rhythm this season, so getting embarrassed by a 3rd-year player was the last thing he wanted. As pointed out by Jalen Rose of ESPN, he could have mitigated by playing better defense during the contest.
After Murray's shot rimmed out, Irving grabbed the game ball and toss into the stands. Jamal, thinking he'd lost the hard-fought memorabilia for good, returned to the Nuggets' locker room only to receive good news shortly thereafter. It turns out a youthful Nuggets fan sporting a "Murray jersey" actually caught the ball, and was more than willing to return it to his idol. Jamal Murray then proceeded to make arrangements to hook the kid up with sneakers and autographed memorabilia for his kind gesture, their fateful rendezvous occurring before tipoff on Friday.
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