The Denver Nuggets face the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night in a rematch of last year’s Western Conference Semifinals series. Minnesota defeated Denver in seven games and defeated the 2023 NBA champions in a very hard-fought series.

Minnesota looks a lot different after trading away Karl-Anthony Towns, and Denver also looks different after losing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in free agency and signing Russell Westbrook and Dario Saric.

Even without Caldwell-Pope, the Nuggets have a lot of cohesion with their starting lineup of Jamal Murray, Christian Braun, Michael Porter Jr., Aaron Gordon and Nikola Jokic. This group took a hit in the second half on Friday, as Murray was ruled out due to a concussion.

Via Nuggets: “Injury update: Jamal Murray will be out for the remainder of the game due to concussion protocol.”

Murray has played in all five games for the Nuggets this season and entered Friday’s game averaging 18.8 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.8 assists. Shooting numbers are down for Murray as he entered Friday’s game shooting just 37.9 percent from the field and 35.0 percent from three.

At the time he left against Minnesota, Murray had recorded six points, three assists and two rebounds in 22 minutes of action. Hopefully this won’t be a long absence for Murray and the Nuggets.

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