Denver Nuggets' Jamal Murray fined $100K for throwing heating pack and towel at a referee



Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray received a whopping $100,000 fine after he was shown throwing multiple objects at a referee during a playoff game.

During the second quarter of Denver's 106-80 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves (Game 2, Western Conference semifinals), Murray was pictured throwing a towel, then a heat pack in the direction of a referee.

The towel landed at the feet of the official. Then, when it appeared to be given back to the Denver bench, Murray appeared to throw a heating pack at the referee that ended up on the court in the middle of play.

Murray was officially fined $100,000 for "throwing multiple objects in the direction of a game official during live play" but was not suspended, the league announced.

Does Jamal Murray get a game suspension or fined for his actions of throwing the heating pad?
— (@)

Fellow Nuggets player Kentavious Caldwell-Pope retrieved the heating pack and tossed it aside at the same time the arena's public-address announcer asked the crowd not to throw any objects on the court.

The officiating crew later told reporters that they were unaware the objects had come from the bench; otherwise they could have "reviewed it under the hostile act trigger." Officiating crew chief Marc Davis told reporters that the penalty for such an act would have been a technical foul.

Davis was indeed the official who had the towel thrown at his feet by Murray.

Timberwolves coach Chris Finch called Murray's actions "inexcusable and dangerous" and said that his team tried to convince the officials that it was unlikely that a heating pack would come from anywhere other than a team bench.

Murray left the arena without speaking to reporters.

"The playoffs are going too well. The storyline is that Anthony Edwards is ascending to superstardom," sports writer Gary Sheffield Jr. told Blaze News. "People will forget about the expected suspension by the end of Game 3, and the story will be back on Edwards and that Minnesota defense."

The reason Murray avoided suspension, Sheffield pontificated, is that he is pivotal to the playoff success for the league.

"You can't transition to a post-LeBron-James-led NBA by suspending the second-best player from the defending champions," he said.

The Nuggets and Timberwolves will play at least two more games in their series, May 10 and May 12, 2024.

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Professional Women's Hockey League has sports fans hoping other leagues will steal its unique opponent-picking rule



The Professional Women's Hockey League has garnered a respectable amount of fanfare in its first year in existence, but a unique playoff rule is grabbing the attention of fans across the world who want to see it implemented for their preferred league or sport.

The PWHL was hot out of the gates with more than 170,000 views on the livestream of its inaugural game in January 2024 and completed its six-team, 24-game season by early May.

Heading into the playoffs, fans are noticing a unique rule that allows the number-one seeded team to choose its opponent out of the last two playoff-qualifying teams.

While the PWHL can only make minimal use of the rule given that just four teams make the playoffs, it isn't hard to imagine this implemented in the NHL, NBA, or NFL, where teams would be seriously looking to avoid top-ranked teams in the first round of the playoffs.

Inversely, it would create a bit more competition at the top in order to gain the right to choose who to play in the first round. It could be tinkered with to allow a choice of any of the bottom-ranked teams, or perhaps simply any team that doesn't win its division.

PWHL Toronto has clinched the #1 overall seed in the playoffs and will get to choose their opponent!\n\n#PWHL | @PWHL_Toronto
— (@)

It would also be very insulting to a team that was picked, creating an immediate level of animosity between the two opponents.

In the PWHL, Toronto won the right to choose its opponent and went with Minnesota.

"Oh no, I see this being a very Toronto style outcome," a fan wrote on X.

The lore here is, of course, that Toronto sports teams have a way of failing in spectacular fashion, a prime example of that was showcased two days after the fan's comment.

The NHL's Toronto Maple Leafs found themselves down 3-1 in the best-of-seven series against rival Boston Bruins. After winning two games to force a game seven, the Leafs went ahead in the third period for a little over a minute, only to be scored on and then quickly lose in overtime after a wild bounce of the puck.

Moments like this would be even more spectacular with the help of the playoff seeding rule.

Oh no, I see this being a very Toronto style outcome.....
— Kyle Bechtold (@kylebechtold3) May 2, 2024


One NHL fan suggested the new rule to long-time analyst Dave Hodge after the reporter was playing around with a few ideas of his own.

"To add more late-season NHL interest: Award 5 home games to division winners in the 1st playoff round, and 5 home games in every playoff round to the Presidents’ Trophy winners. Currently, the race for 1st overall finds 8 teams separated by 5 pts. Fun, no?" Hodge wrote.

"Allow seeding to order them to choose opponents in the playoffs," the fan replied.

@davehodge20 Like PWHL, allow seeding to order them to choose opponent in playoffs.
— (@)

ESPN's Greg Wyshynski disagreed with the rule and said that, through testing, it has usually resulted in the expected seeding. "I love 90% of the PWHL rule changes. Can't win 'em all," he wrote.

Picking your opponent is exciting in theory but whenever it's been tested, it usually results in the expected seeding.

The Gold Plan is just dumb but maybe works for a league with so few teams.

I love 90% of the PWhL rule changes. Can't win'em all.
— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) February 28, 2024

At the very least, the rule has done what the league has hoped and created intrigue and discussion around its style of play.

As of late, much of the internet was focused on the league's "diversity, equity, and inclusion." The league was pushing it so hard that a fan reported attendees at a game in Ottawa were directed to recite a diversity statement before the game as it was displayed on the video arena's video screen.

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Vaccine mandate ends season for iconic Los Angeles high school football program on eve of playoffs



A Los Angeles Unified School District mandate went into effect Sunday that requires students who want to play sports to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, the Los Angeles Times reported.

And with that, Crenshaw High School's football team — which possesses a storied history as five-time city champions — saw its season abruptly end, the paper said.

Why?

The mandate states that football teams need at least 18 fully vaccinated players to compete, the Times said, but Crenshaw has only 13 players who are fully vaccinated. And that's "insufficient eligible players," according to a LAUSD statement, KTTV-TV reported.

The Cougars were supposed to face South East in the first round of the City Section Division 1 playoffs Friday, but that game isn't happening, the paper said, adding that South East automatically advances to the quarterfinals.

One Crenshaw player who did not get vaccinated told KTTV that the LAUSD vaccine mandate "kind of messed me over for scholarships and things like that."

Image source: KTTV-TV video screenshot

"Yeah, playoffs especially championship games, that's really where everything gets seen, and that's what i was hoping on," he noted to the station before looking dejected and shaking his head. "But fell short."

Crenshaw coach Robert Garrett told the Times he was informed Tuesday night that the Cougars didn't have enough eligible players to continue fielding a team.

"They knew last week that I was not going to have 18 kids," Garrett noted to the paper. "I played 15 kids. The other kids are there so they won't be on the street. They're there for social and emotional development."

Image source: KTTV-TV video screenshot

Parents aren't happy about what's transpired.

"It should be a free choice if you're gonna be vaccinated or not," parent Lala Brown told KTTV. "And if they are not vaccinated, there are people who don't agree with the vaccine but at least do some type of testing, and if people are negative then they should be able to play."

Image source: KTTV-TV video screenshot

Another parent said the vaccine mandate forced Crenshaw to "throw it all away for nothing" after a season of hard work, the station said.

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