BOSTON — Jamal Murray scowled at the nearest official.
From his perspective, Jayson Tatum had clearly pushed off enough to warrant an offensive foul call. But the whistle didn’t intervene as Tatum stood idle on the left wing, taking a long pause before shooting, as if to savor the space he had created.
Fortunately for the Nuggets, Tatum missed the 3-pointer. But the sequence was evidence of what the Celtics believed they could accomplish against Denver’s point guard. Their scorers thrive on hunting matchups. Murray was their prey on Sunday, until he refused to allow it.
“I think for any player, you never want to be that guy that teams are targeting,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said after Denver’s 110-103 loss. “… I felt Jamal in the second half and we as a team in the second half, we were much more physical. We were much more resolute on that end of the floor. And I love seeing that.”
The Nuggets have players on the floor for their offense, and they have players on the floor predominantly for their defense — but not exactly a surplus of overlap. It’s a notable flaw in the rotation. Murray, of course, qualifies as the former. When he’s at his best, the superstar-caliber beauty of his ball-in-hand game is more than enough to cancel out any defensive shortcomings. Still, what he was forced to fend off in Boston was the Nuggets’ latest glimpse at what they know to expect in the playoffs.
Just as opponents are likely to dare Aaron Gordon, Russell Westbrook, Peyton Watson and even Christian Braun to shoot 3s in order to disrupt Denver’s spacing, they’ll be equally inclined to target perceived weaknesses at the other end. That could mean steering Murray, Nikola Jokic or Michael Porter Jr. into the action.
Murray has seen a lot of it this season.
“For sure, 100%,” he said when asked if he relishes those situations. “It’s just tough when I have four fouls, you know what I’m saying?”
Murray was frustrated by his foul trouble after the loss, but it hadn’t prevented him from standing his ground in the second half. His ability to get stops against Tatum and especially Jaylen Brown on a handful of possessions was vital to Denver’s near-comeback.
In the last seven minutes of regulation, Brown shot 0 for 4 when defended by Murray. He missed a turnaround jumper in the lane off the front of the rim after getting the smaller Murray switched onto him instead of dealing with Westbrook. He attacked another Murray switch (this time from Braun) and front-rimmed a floater. Both were affected by Murray showing physical resistance and slapping down at the ball as Brown went into his shot.
Tatum also missed a contested 3-pointer with two minutes remaining after getting the Murray switch.
“They’re going to score. They’ve got some really good players,” Malone said. “They’re defending champs for a reason. To be able to hold them to (110) points, it was a good effort.”
The Celtics were particularly keen on singling out Murray with post-ups. Those were hit and miss. Shortly after halftime, Murray was able to break up an entry pass and create a turnover when Tatum tried to seal him deep in the paint. Minutes later, he stood his ground while getting backed down by Brown long enough for Brown to get called for a travel.
Brown didn’t give up. He scored on Murray twice inside of 12 feet later in the third quarter.
“I think he’s a good defender. He is not a target, for sure. But I think collectively we need to give him a little bit of help,” Jokic said of Murray. “If somebody is backing you down who is taller and maybe stronger than you, we need to have someone to be there … so we can not just leave the guy on an island. But I think he played a special second half. I think he played really good.”
Helping is easier said than done against the Celtics, though. Nothing delights them more than a shooter left open. If posting up Murray means drawing a double-team, they’ll almost always choose to swing the ball around the perimeter for the most ideal 3-pointer.
If there’s a balance between helping and staying home that needs to be considered, though, Jokic isn’t hearing it.
“My opinion is always to help your teammate,” he said. “Even, we can be there (and) just make some noises just to get into our opponent’s head.”
According to the NBA’s data, Murray is one of nine players in the league with 900 or more shot attempts defended this season as of Sunday — a testament to the pressure that teams are trying to put on him and the importance of his response to that. Opponents are 47% from the field on shots defended by him.
“You’ve got to almost take it as a sign of disrespect,” Malone said, “and do whatever you can to stop that in its tracks.”
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