Playing at Pepsi Center for the second time this season, the Los Angeles Lakers essentially had a repeat of their first visit. They went cold down the stretch, turned the ball over, and grew agitated with Jamal Murray in a loss.
Back on Dec. 2, Murray dribbled the ball around Lonzo Ball as the clock ticked down. Julius Randle and Brandon Ingram went to foul Murray, and Randle then had words for seventh overall pick in the 2016 Draft.
On Friday night, Murray appeared to shout in Ball’s direction after stealing a pass that wrapped up the Nuggets’ victory. Lakers head coach Luke Walton yelled at Murray, and Isaiah Thomas had a lengthy conversation with him during and after free throws.
Following the Lakers’ loss, Walton explained his reaction was a result of Murray’s behavior in the two games, per Bill Oram of the Southern California News Group:
“I felt like for the second time we played here, Murray was being a little disrespectful at the end of the game,” Walton said. He called it “trash talking toward our guys,” but declined to elaborate.
Ball said the Lakers were cognizant of Murray’s dribbling act, though otherwise didn’t want to lend more attention to the topic:
“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.”
Other Lakers largely declined to address the matter. Many declared not to have heard Murray’s purported trash-talking during the game.
After the December incident, Murray was remorseful and admitted to unnecessarily pushing the envelope. He was much more unapologetic the second time around.
Whether there’s any carryover will be answered in timely fashion, as the Lakers host the Nuggets on Tuesday for their fourth and final matchup this season.
