3 injured after man with knife enters Montreal-area mosque
Three men were injured after trying to subdue a man armed with a knife during afternoon prayers at a Montreal-area mosque Friday afternoon.
The highlight of Game 1 for Jamal Murray came when he dribbled into the middle, planted his surgically repaired left knee in the paint, made a full clockwise turn, then faded away and swished a mid-range jumper.
His most important contribution to Denver's first win in the franchise's first appearance in the NBA Finals -- well, take your pick.
Murray's 26-point, 10-assist night in the 104-93 win over Miami on Thursday almost seemed incidental for a team that features a player averaging a triple-double in these playoffs in Nikola Jokic, who has the skills to make every player on the roster a threat.
And yet, anybody following the Nuggets for a while knows it has been Murray's return to full health -- and his return to the playoffs for the first time in three seasons -- that has been a catalyst in the run they're on.
"He's a three-level scorer. He can shoot the 3. He can pull up and get to the rim," said Heat guard Haywood Highsmith, describing the challenge of slowing Murray. "He's a crafty player, has a good handle. He's in good condition."
All those points and assists aside, it's arguable Murray's most important contribution in this game came during a 106-second stretch after Miami had cut a 24-point deficit to 10. It's somewhat remarkable -- and oh-so typical of the seventh-year guard out of Kentucky -- that during those 106 seconds that changed the game, Murray didn't record a single stat.
It started at the 9:02 mark of the fourth quarter when he made a snap throw to Jokic, which loosened the Heat defense and allowed Jokic to find Jeff Green for an uncontested layup.
A few empty possessions later, Murray found a sliver of open space in the middle to hit Jokic, who missed the easy layup but got fouled and made both free throws.
The possession after that, Murray scooped up the ball after Bruce Brown picked Highsmith's pocket. Murray wove down court, dribbled around his back, through his legs, then flipped it to Michael Porter Jr. who, with the court now wide open, found Jokic for a layup.
Denver's lead was back to 16.
"Loved his pace tonight, just the pace that he played all night long," Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon said. "The tempo that he played at, controlling the game and controlling the flow of the game was great."
For the record, Murray's turnaround fadeaway over Highsmith -- the jumper of the night -- came with 3:27 left, raised the Denver lead to 14 after another mini-flurry from the Heat and put to rest any doubt about the outcome.
It also served as yet another reminder that if they Heat are going to have any chance of containing the Nuggets over the rest of this series, they'll have to account for the player who has never made an All-Star game and never received an MVP vote but is every bit as key to Denver's success as the player who has, Jokic.
"He's a dynamic scorer. He poses threats in different ways and he's relentless," said Miami guard Gabe Vincent. "It will be a tall task, and we'll continue to work at it."
Murray went down in a game at Golden State and tore up his knee late in the 2020-21 season, an injury that forced him to miss the `21 playoffs and all of last year. Even with Jokic winning the MVP in both of those seasons, the Nuggets got swept out of the '21 conference semifinals by the Suns and demolished by the Warriors in the first round in '22.
By then, the phrase "Bubble Murray" -- an homage to his breakthrough during the 2020 playoffs in the COVID bubble in Orlando -- was becoming popular. He has grown tired of that label, and of the question of whether "Bubble Murray" would ever show up again once he returned to full health.
Answer: Yes.
He has averaged 27.6 points and 6.2 assists over 16 playoff games this year, surpassing his regular-season numbers by 7.6 and 1.4. Counting 2019 and 2020, Murray increases his scoring by 33% and his assists by 13% in the postseason. He is, in short, building a reputation as one of those special players who come up biggest when the lights are brightest.
True to form, Murray was more than happy to spread the credit around after the Nuggets made it 1-0 as a franchise in the NBA Finals.
"It's hard to guard everybody, instead of just one or two guys," Murray said. "I think tonight was just a great example of how it could be anybody's night and anybody's quarter, maybe not your quarter. That's just Nuggets basketball."
Three men were injured after trying to subdue a man armed with a knife during afternoon prayers at a Montreal-area mosque Friday afternoon.
A 15-year-old boy who was the subject of an emergency alert in New Brunswick has been arrested.
Police have arrested an 18-year-old woman who allegedly stole a Porsche and then ran over its owner in an incident that was captured on video.
Since she was a young girl growing up in Vancouver, Ginny Lam says her mom Yat Hei Law made it very clear she favoured her son William, because he was her male heir.
The search for a missing six-year-old boy in Shamattawa is continuing Friday as RCMP hope recent tips can help lead to a happy conclusion.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday issued a warning to any potential home intruder: 'If somebody breaks in my house, they're getting shot.'
What Cristiana Barsony-Arcidiacono, 49, the Italian-Hungarian CEO and owner of Hungary-based BAC Consulting, says she hasn't done is make the exploding pagers that killed 12 people and wounded more than 2,000 in Lebanon this week.
Israel killed a top Hezbollah commander and other senior figures in the Lebanese movement in an airstrike on Beirut on Friday, vowing to press on with a new military campaign until it is able to secure the area around the Lebanese border.
An 11-year-old boy died Monday after subway surfing in New York City. He's the fourth person to die from subway surfing in the city this year.
Getting a photograph of a rainbow? Common. Getting a photo of a lightning strike? Rare. Getting a photo of both at the same time? Extremely rare, but it happened to a Manitoba photographer this week.
An anonymous business owner paid off the mortgage for a New Brunswick not-for-profit.
They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.
A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.
Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.
The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.
It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.
A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.