Why Nuggets are using Jamal Murray, Russell Westbrook together

That is extra discomfort than the Nuggets are used to feeling of their stomachs.

Their three-time MVP isn’t saying a lot to calm it. After his 41-point outburst went to waste Saturday afternoon, Nikola Jokic was requested by what level within the season he feels the Nuggets must have themselves discovered. He responded, with the identical frankness that he used this week to name them a nasty taking pictures workforce, “most likely yesterday.”

In the meantime, Jokic’s longtime level guard recommends Pepto Bismol.

“I’ve a extra in-depth image of us than everyone wanting from the surface in, however we gained a championship with a lot of the guys which have been right here,” Jamal Murray stated after Denver’s 109-104 loss to the Clippers. “We’ve been right here collectively for some time. We’ve got belief in everyone. … I believe we’re step by step getting higher; it’s simply not translating into wins but.”

That is solely the second season of Jokic’s profession that Denver has began 0-2. After Saturday’s video games, the Nuggets ranked final within the NBA in workforce offensive ranking at 97.4, albeit nonetheless with a comically small pattern dimension. And now the comforts of dwelling will likely be deserted as they attempt to right course on a three-game highway journey, beginning Monday evening in Toronto.

Murray’s well being, manufacturing and lineup deployment are main points of the uncertainty surrounding the 2023 champions. However he got here to his workforce’s protection — notably relating to its depth and 3-point taking pictures — after a person efficiency that was as much as commonplace. He went for 22 factors and 5 assists on 7-of-14 taking pictures, together with 3 of 6 from outdoors.

“P-Wat (Peyton Watson) is getting back from damage, and we all know he could make, and we all know what he’s able to on each ends,” Murray stated. “CB (Christian Braun) is taking the leap.”

Braun’s match within the beginning lineup has been low on the checklist of issues. He has scored in double figures each video games whereas offering spectacular on-ball protection in opposition to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and James Harden. In its 48 minutes collectively, the marginally new-look beginning 5 has a web ranking of 14.1. Michael Porter Jr.’s taking pictures droop apart, it has principally picked up the place it left off with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.

The outlet left behind within the second unit by Braun’s promotion is one other story.

Denver’s bench has began the season 10 for 46 from the sphere (21.7%). The 4 rotation gamers behind Michael Malone’s beginning lineup mixed for simply 5 rebounds in opposition to Los Angeles, accentuating the unit’s lack of dimension. Defensively, it has been inconsistent. Dario Saric struggled to dimension as much as his countryman Ivica Zubac, a extra conventional heart, who amassed 24 factors and 15 rebounds for the Clippers.

“Plenty of it’s coming from chemistry,” Murray stated of the sluggish begin. “I keep in mind I used to be operating the break at this time, and I didn’t know if I ought to go to the 2 or the three. … We had been speaking about a few of that stuff within the locker room.”

Murray has performed within the second unit each video games, although to a lesser diploma on Saturday. In 11 minutes in the course of the season-opener, a bench lineup that includes Murray because the lone stagger registered a minus-37.3 web ranking, 37.9% rebounding price and 38.3% true taking pictures proportion.

Staggering Murray is nothing new in Denver, however the match has been awkward to date this season with just one ball to share between him and Russell Westbrook (who defended respectably Saturday however missed all eight of his shot makes an attempt).

The Nuggets’ curiosity in Westbrook this summer season was partially related along with his potential to push Murray competitively in observe. Whether or not they complement one another in video games stays to be seen, however their first 21 minutes collectively have been a minus-28.9 web.

“Jamal’s a guard. He’s been a one. He’s been a two,” Malone stated after the opener, reiterating what he has lengthy believed. “In school, he was a two. It’s simply that, for his Nuggets tenure, Jamal has been a man that may be a beginning one, and he can play with some extent guard within the second unit. I believe Russ and Jamal have a variety of potential to be actually good collectively.”