DENVER (AP) — Nuggets point guard Jamal Murray started Game 5 of the defending NBA champions’ playoff series against the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday night despite a strained left calf.
Murray warmed up with an ice pack wrapped around his calf, which he hurt Saturday night, and Denver’s medical staff determined he was at low risk of aggravating the injury by playing in Game 5.
The Nuggets were up 3-1 in the series and trying to close out the Lakers, whom they swept in the Western Conference finals last year on their way to winning the franchise’s first NBA title.
The Lakers were trying to become the first team ever to bounce back from a 3-0 deficit in a best-of-seven series to advance.
Murray was injured in the second half of the Nuggets’ Game 4 loss at Los Angeles that snapped Denver’s 11-game winning streak against LeBron James and the Lakers.
He didn’t leave the game but was listed as questionable on the team’s injury report Sunday.
About 90 minutes before tip-off, Nuggets coach Michael Malone said Murray’s playing status depended on how he felt during warmups.
“It just comes down to being responsible,” Malone said. “Are we a better team with Jamal Murray? Of course we are. Does he give us a better chance to win? Of course he does. He’s one of the better playoff players that I’ve ever been around.
“But sometimes I have to be the adult in the room and, if need be, the voice of reason and take a bigger picture approach,” Malone added.
The winner of this series advances to play the Minnesota Timberwolves, who are coming off their first series win in 20 years. They completed the franchise’s first-ever sweep with a 122-116 win at Phoenix on Sunday.
Murray has struggled with his jump shot during the series despite hitting the winning buzzer-beater in Game 2, the first such shot in Nuggets playoff history.
Murray entered Monday night having shot 38% from the field and 21% from beyond the arc in the playoff series against the Lakers after shooting 48.1% overall and 42.5% on 3-pointers during the regular season, which were both career bests.
“I mean, he’s tough, man,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. “Even though he may not have a good shooting night, he makes the key plays and he makes timely plays. So he’s tough. You can throw the numbers out the window. When he’s on the floor, he’s a threat. He’s more than capable of putting his team on his back and getting them where they need to get to.”
Murray missed 23 games this season while dealing with hamstring, knee, ankle and shin ailments, including seven straight down the stretch.
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Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James, second from left, goes after a loose ball along with Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray, center, center Nikola Jokic, second from right, and guard Austin Reaves, right, after James knocked the ball from the hands of Jokic during the second half in Game 4 of an NBA basketball first-round playoff series Saturday, April 27, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Nuggets point guard Jamal Murray starts Game 5 against Lakers despite strained left calf
Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray, left, shoots as Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James defends during the first half in Game 4 of an NBA basketball first-round playoff series Saturday, April 27, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Nuggets point guard Jamal Murray starts Game 5 against Lakers despite strained left calf
CANNES, France (AP) — Much attention has been paid to the $120 million of his own fortune that Francis Ford Coppola put up to make the futuristic epic “Megalopolis,” but the director himself isn't much concerned.
“I don’t care. I never cared,” Coppola said of money, speaking to reporters at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday. “The money doesn’t matter. What is important are the friends. Because friends will never let you down. Money may evaporate.”
Coppola sold a piece of his winery business to finance “Megalopolis," a passion project the filmmaker has been pondering for decades. Regardless of the outcome — the film is seeking a North American distributor — he's going to be fine, financially, Coppola said.
“My children, without exception, they have wonderful careers without a fortune,” he said. “They don’t need a fortune.”
Coppola faced questions from the press the day after premiering the hotly anticipated “Megalopolis," starring Adam Driver as an architect named Cesar Catalina who is trying to build a utopia in a future New York City. Critics called the film everything from a disaster to an admirably ambitious gambit that only Coppola could make.
Coppola fashions his film as a Roman Empire-esque tale. The closer he got to making it, he said, the more relevant it seemed to him.
“What's happening in America, in our republic, our democracy, is exactly how Rome lost their republic thousands of years ago,” said Coppola, who lamented the resurgence of the “neo-right, even fascist tradition.”
“Our politics has taken us to the point where we might lose our republic,” he continued. “It’s not the people who have become politicians who are going to be the answer. I feel it’s the artists of America. The role of the artist is to illuminate contemporary life, to shine a light, to be the headlights."
Drawing laughs, Coppola then turned to one his cast members, Jon Voight, noting he had “different political opinions.” Voight responded: “How did you find that out?”
Coppola has been shopping “Megalopolis” for potential buyers. When asked whether a streaming company might be a home for the movie, he suggested streaming was nothing new.
“Streaming is what we used to call home video,” Coppola said. He voiced some misgivings about modern Hollywood.
“The job is not so much to make good movies, the job is to make sure that they pay their debt obligations," he said of studios. "It might be that the studios that we knew for so long — some wonderful ones — are not going to be here in the future.”
But Coppola's tone was otherwise overwhelmingly positive. The 85-year-old filmmaker exalted the family members who came with him and implored reporters to ask more questions of his cast, including Laurence Fishburne, Giancarlo Esposito and Aubrey Plaza. (Shia LaBeouf attended Thursday's premiere but did not join the press conference.)
“There’s so many people when they die, they say, ‘I wish I had done this, I wish I done that,’" said Coppola. "When I die, I’m going to say, ‘I got to do this.’ I got to see my daughter (Sofia Coppola) win an Oscar and I got to make wine and I got to make every movie I wanted to make. I’m going to be so busy thinking about all the things I got to do that when I die I won’t notice it.”
For more coverage of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, visit https://apnews.com/hub/cannes-film-festival.
Shia LaBeouf, from left, Laurence Fishburne, Aubrey Plaza, Adam Driver, director Francis Ford Coppola, Nathalie Emmanuel and Giancarlo Esposito pose for photographers upon departure from the premiere of the film 'Megalopolis' at the 77th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Thursday, May 16, 2024. (Photo by Andreea Alexandru/Invision/AP)
Adam Driver poses for photographers at the photo call for the film 'Megalopolis' at the 77th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Friday, May 17, 2024. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)
Giancarlo Esposito, from left, Laurence Fishburne, Nathalie Emmanuel, director Francis Ford Coppola, Adam Driver and Aubrey Plaza pose for photographers at the photo call for the film 'Megalopolis' at the 77th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Friday, May 17, 2024. (Photo by Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)
Adam Driver, left, and director Francis Ford Coppola pose for photographers at the photo call for the film 'Megalopolis' at the 77th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Friday, May 17, 2024. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)
Director Francis Ford Coppola, left, and Adam Driver pose for photographers at the photo call for the film 'Megalopolis' at the 77th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Friday, May 17, 2024. (Photo by Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)
Director Francis Ford Coppola poses for photographers at the photo call for the film 'Megalopolis' at the 77th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Friday, May 17, 2024. (Photo by Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)
Aubrey Plaza, from left, Adam Driver, director Francis Ford Coppola, Nathalie Emmanuel, Laurence Fishburne, and Giancarlo Esposito pose for photographers at the photo call for the film 'Megalopolis' at the 77th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Friday, May 17, 2024. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)
Nathalie Emmanuel, from left, director Francis Ford Coppola, and Aubrey Plaza pose for photographers at the photo call for the film 'Megalopolis' at the 77th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Friday, May 17, 2024. (Photo by Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)
Director Francis Ford Coppola poses for photographers at the photo call for the film 'Megalopolis' at the 77th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Friday, May 17, 2024. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)
