The sound of missed three-pointers clanging off the rim still rattled inside Jamal Murray’s brain as his phone rang.
An 0-for-8 performance against the Timberwolves on Nov. 3 stretched his career-opening 0-for streak to a staggering 16 field-goal attempts. The Nuggets rookie, a lethal sharpshooter during his lone season at Kentucky, couldn’t buy a bucket even if the state of Colorado legalized it.
“I just grabbed him and hugged him and said ‘I don’t care if you go 0-for-8. I really don’t,” Nuggets coach Mike Malone told reporters that night. “I can’t let him get down on himself.