DENVER (AP) — Jamal Murray missed his fifth consecutive game for the Denver Nuggets on Sunday with a strained right hamstring and coach Michael Malone said “hopefully” his star point guard will be back for the start of the NBA playoffs.
Malone said that keeping Murray on the bench with four games to go in the regular season wasn’t a matter of precaution: “Jamal’s hurt. It’s not (being) careful. He’s hurt.”
“This has been a weird one,” Malone added. “It was day-to-day, day-to-day. The next thing you know it’s not day-to-day. So, obviously a big loss for us. But we have more than enough. We’ve shown that time and time again in that locker room. So, if Jamal is unable to go, we need other guys to step up and and play desperate and play urgent.”
Asked before tip-off against Indiana on Sunday if he expects Murray to be back in action by the playoffs, Malone said, “hopefully he's able to be back by then.”
The Nuggets entered Sunday on a three-game skid and in a fourth place in the bunched-up Western Conference, just a game ahead of the eighth-place Memphis Grizzlies.
Murray dealt with a sprained ankle down the stretch a year ago and played poorly in a second-round playoff series against Minnesota and again for Canada in the Paris Olympics.
The Pacers were without star forward Pascal Siakam (right elbow) in Denver.
Siakam's injury exacerbated the Pacers' challenge in facing Nikola Jokic, who's on the verge of becoming the first player in league history to finish top-three in scoring, rebounds and assists in the same season.
“It's a monumental task,” Indiana coach Rick Carlisle said. “If you think about it, he's really playing every position on the floor. He's handling the ball a lot of the time. He plays the five. I mean, he really does the things that every position on the floor does. He shoots it, he rebounds, he drives like wings. He does things that (forwards) do. It's another historic year for him and we've had a lot of problems with him.”
Malone also addressed sticking with Russell Westbrook, who had two big blunders in the closing seconds of a 140-139 loss in double-overtime to the Wolves last week.
“We wouldn’t be where we are right now, in fourth place with four games to go, if it wasn’t for Russell this year,” Malone said. “And I think it’s easy to look at with the recency bias: ‘Well, he missed a layup, he fouled a guy against Minnesota,’ and everybody just kind of wants to detach from him. ... I don’t do that.
“I respect Russell Westbrook and I”m also appreciative of everything he’s done for this team this year on the court and off the court,” Malone said. “And with Jamal out, we need Russell Wesbrook. We need him to come into the game, provide a spark, bring energy — and our turnovers aren’t just Russ. ... It is a team-wide issue right now.
“But Russ has been around the block. He knows what big games are about and we’re playing a lot of guys right now that have no idea what big games are about. So, having a veteran that’s been there and done that ... can reassure some of those guys.”
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Milwaukee Bucks guard Kevin Porter Jr., back right, is blocked by Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, back left, as guard Jamal Murray heads to the basket in the first half of an NBA basketball game Wednesday, March 26, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday said the Trump administration must work to bring back a Maryland man who was mistakenly deported to prison in El Salvador, rejecting the administration’s emergency appeal.
The court acted in the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran citizen who had an immigration court order preventing his deportation to his native country over fears he would face persecution from local gangs.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis had ordered Abrego Garcia, now being held in a notorious Salvadoran prison, returned to the United States by midnight Monday.
“The order properly requires the Government to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador,” the court said in an unsigned order with no noted dissents.
It comes after a string of rulings on the court's emergency docket where the conservative majority has at least partially sided with Trump amid a wave of lower court orders slowing the president's sweeping agenda.
In Thursday's case, Chief Justice John Roberts had already pushed back Xinis' deadline. The justices also said that her order must now be clarified to make sure it doesn’t intrude into executive branch power over foreign affairs, since Abrego Garcia is being held abroad. The court said the Trump administration should also be prepared to share what steps it has taken to try to get him back — and what more it could potentially do.
The administration claims Abrego Garcia is a member of the MS-13 gang, though he has never been charged with or convicted of a crime. His attorneys said there is no evidence he was in MS-13.
The administration has conceded that it made a mistake in sending him to El Salvador, but argued that it no longer could do anything about it.
The court’s liberal justices said the administration should have hastened to correct “its egregious error” and was “plainly wrong” to suggest it could not bring him home.
“The Government’s argument, moreover, implies that it could deport and incarcerate any person, including U. S. citizens, without legal consequence, so long as it does so before a court can intervene,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote, joined by her two colleagues.
Abrego Garcia's wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, said the ordeal has been an “emotional rollercoaster” for their family and the entire community.
“I am anxiously waiting for Kilmar to be here in my arms, and in our home putting our children to bed, knowing this nightmare is almost at its end. I will continue fighting until my husband is home,” she said.
One of his lawyers, Simon Sandoval-Moshenburg, said “tonight, the rule of law prevailed," and he encouraged the government to "stop wasting time and get moving.”
In the district court, Xinis wrote that the decision to arrest Abrego Garcia and send him to El Salvador appears to be “wholly lawless.” There is little to no evidence to support a “vague, uncorroborated” allegation that Abrego Garcia was once in the MS-13 street gang, Xinis wrote.
The 29-year-old was detained by immigration agents and deported last month.
He had a permit from the Homeland Security Department to legally work in the U.S. and was a sheet metal apprentice pursuing a journeyman license, his attorney said. His wife is a U.S. citizen.
Tricia McLaughlin, assistant DHS secretary for public affairs, said Thursday that the justices' order for clarification from the lower court was a win for the administration. “We look forward to continuing to advance our position in this case,” she said.
An immigration judge had previously barred the U.S. from deporting Abrego Garcia to El Salvador in 2019, finding that he faced likely persecution by local gangs.
A Justice Department lawyer conceded in a court hearing that Abrego Garcia should not have been deported. Attorney General Pam Bondi later removed the lawyer, Erez Reuveni, from the case and placed him on leave.
Associated Press writers Lindsay Whitehurst and Rebecca Santata contributed to this report.
Jennifer Vasquez Sura, the wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia of Maryland, who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador, speaks during a news conference at CASA's Multicultural Center in Hyattsville, Md., Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
