{"id":286560,"date":"2023-04-17T09:19:11","date_gmt":"2023-04-17T09:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=286560"},"modified":"2023-04-17T10:58:54","modified_gmt":"2023-04-17T10:58:54","slug":"veteran-in-fresh-fracas-after-teammate-punch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=286560","title":{"rendered":"Veteran in fresh fracas after teammate punch"},"content":{"rendered":"

Minnesota Timberwolves<\/a> veteran Kyle Anderson has found himself in the middle of another scuffle, just weeks after one with his own teammate.<\/p>\n

Anderson was punched by teammate Rudy Gobert<\/a> in the final game of the regular season earlier this month, with Gobert suspended for a play-in game last week. This time, it was Denver Nuggets<\/a> youngster Christian Braun that was in the 29-year-old's crosshairs.<\/p>\n

The incident occurred late in the third quarter when the Nuggets had blown their lead out to 25 points.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Real story' behind Wighton call must be told<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Ex-players in spat after Port coach's teen tirade<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> NRL's botched 'stolen' idea led to nightmare<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\ufeffAnderson was attempting to take a shot after a whistle had been blown, commonplace in the NBA, but Braun was not prepared to let him shoot the ball.<\/p>\n

A brief scuffle ensued between the two before assistant coaches from both teams and referees got involved.\ufeff<\/p>\n

\"DENVER,<\/p>\n

Nuggets guard Jamal Murray overcame some early jitters to have 24 points and eight assists in his first playoff game since the 2020 NBA bubble as the Nuggets routed the Timberwolves 109-80.<\/p>\n

\u201cMurray was Murray," Wolves point guard Mike Conley said. "He\u2019s one of the better scorers, playmakers, from our position.\u201d<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/Adam_Mares\/status\/1647821655576817665<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/JonKrawczynski\/status\/1647821777547173888<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/sammorril\/status\/1647821751919730689<\/a><\/p>\n

Michael Porter Jr, who scored 18 points in his first playoff game since missing last year's run with a bad back, said Murray used his time off after blowing out his left knee in 2021 to improve his basketball IQ.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told him the other day I feel like he's better now than before the injury,\u201d Porter said. \u201cI know he probably doesn't feel it, but just his overall game, his awareness, he had like a year off where he had to just watch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Porter scored 18 points and Nikola Jokic<\/a> added 13 points, 14 rebounds and a half dozen assists in 28 minutes as Denver snapped a five-game skid in playoff openers \u2014 and became the only higher seed to win on its home court.<\/p>\n

\"DENVER,<\/p>\n

Both Porter and Murray started off slow offensively, so they turned up their defence, diving for loose balls and crashing the glass until they found their shooting touch.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was the game right there,\u201d Murray said. \u201cIt wasn't even offence. I think Mike and I struggled early and we were still playing defence. We were running the floor playing defence, boxing out, playing physical. Everybody made an impact.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anthony Edwards led Minnesota with 18 points. Karl-Anthony Towns, who was rounding into form this month after missing 52 games with a bad calf, missed 10 of his first 12 shots and finished with 11 points.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the NBA. It\u2019s not forgiving. Just things happen," Towns said. "They did a great job, give them credit. They had a long week preparing for us and they got ready and you could tell on the court they knew our plays and knew what they\u2019re doing. So we\u2019ve just got to come back ready for Game 2. It\u2019s a series \u2014 just move on, flush it and get ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

Minnesota coach Chris Finch lamented Denver's tougher physicality and better control.<\/p>\n

\"DENVER,<\/p>\n

\u201cWay more physical than we were,\u201d he said. "They played with more speed, more force, they kicked our butts in every category that you possibly can imagine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jokic said during the Nuggets' week off that he was eager to see how they'd do do with Murray and Porter back in the lineup with him after injuries and surgeries waylaid Denver's Big Three each of the last two postseasons.<\/p>\n

The answer was emphatic: the trio combined for 55 points, 33 rebounds and 16 assists \u2014 with just two combined turnovers \u2014 as all five of Denver's starters scored in double figures as did reserve Bruce Brown, who chipped in 14.<\/p>\n

The Nuggets were the only one of four home teams to win on Tuesday morning AEST as the Bucks, Grizzlies and Suns all surrendered home court advantage to lower seeds in the first round.<\/p>\n

The opener marked Murray's first playoff appearance since his breakout performance in the 2020 NBA bubble, when he twice put up 50 points on the Jazz in helping the Nuggets reach the Western Conference Finals where they lost to LeBron James and the Lakers.<\/p>\n

\"DENVER,<\/p>\n

Murray tore his left ACL eight months later and missed the Nuggets' last two playoff runs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is kind of wild to think it\u2019s been that long," Denver coach Michael Malone said before tip-off. \u201cI\u2019m just so happy for him, proud of him. It has not been an easy journey for him, but I think this year, we\u2019ve seen Jamal have moments where that\u2019s the Jamal Murray that we all love and remember.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Timberwolves were without starting forward Jaden McDaniels, their best perimeter defender, who broke his right hand punching a wall in Minnesota's final regular season game.<\/p>\n

Towns promised things would be different in game two.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think this team has many nights like this,\u201d he said of the Wolves, who hadn't been held to 80 or fewer points since November 19, 2016.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Minnesota Timberwolves veteran Kyle Anderson has found himself in the middle of another scuffle, just weeks after one with his own teammate. Anderson was punched […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":286564,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286560"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=286560"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286560\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":286570,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286560\/revisions\/286570"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/286564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=286560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=286560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=286560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}