MEMPHIS, Tenn. — There were a handful of Nuggets possessions Sunday when the ball ended up in Christian Braun’s hands as the shot clock reached single digits.
He missed a rare midrange step-back attempt. He scored over a tough contest in the lane after running a slot pick-and-roll with DeAndre Jordan, while Jamal Murray stood in the strong-side corner. By the third quarter, it had gotten to be a little too much. Murray passed to Braun on the right wing, giving him seven seconds to score in isolation, and he air-balled a pull-up jumper from the foul line.
Braun has been excellent this season in an increased role, offensively and defensively. But the Nuggets don’t want to be relying on him as an off-the-dribble shot creator in the halfcourt. Maybe he has untapped potential in that area, but it’s mostly TBD for now — to be developed. His 16 points per game have been a result of cutting, spotting up, slashing and of course sprinting the floor in transition. Exactly 80% of his made field goals have been assisted, often by Nikola Jokic.
That Braun needed to take a few more uncomfortable shots than usual in Memphis was a reflection of Jokic’s absence, yes, but also an indictment of the players who are supposed to be Denver’s go-to scorers. Braun ended up with 13 points — the same as Murray and more than Michael Porter Jr. in a 105-90 loss.
The Nuggets were desperate for someone to step up without Jokic. Their second and third options, when upgraded to first and second options, combined for 23 points on 27 shots and eight turnovers.
“We’ve gotta figure out other ways to score when it’s tough,” Porter said.
MPJ has struggled on this road trip, but overall after 12 games, he’s still averaging an efficient 17.8 points and playing heavy minutes. He’s the team’s second-leading scorer. The problem is that he’s not supposed to be.
Murray is. Missing Jokic the last two games has accentuated his inefficiency, but he was missing more shots than usual even before the MVP center stayed home for personal reasons.
Murray, who signed a four-year max extension before the season, is at 17.3 points per game on 39.9% shooting from the field, including a 30.2% clip from three.
“Obviously, we need Jamal,” coach Michael Malone said. “Especially when Nikola and Aaron (Gordon) are out, we need Jamal to be a guy that can lead us. And that’s not just on Jamal Murray. I can help him. I’m drawing up plays. … No matter what we’re running and who we’re running it for, our screens and our ability to create space and separation have to be much-improved to get those guys better looks, and more clean looks.”
Malone’s emphasis on play-calling and screening as devices to improve Murray’s numbers should warrant monitoring. The point guard is playing off-ball noticeably more than usual. Last season, 41.8% of his made field goals were assisted. The year before, 42.9% of them were. Both of those seasons, 60% of his 3s were assisted. Murray has long been a scorer whose rhythm is self-established, using his own robust tool belt as a handler. That’s how a player gets paid like he did.
This season so far, 52.7% of Murray’s made shots have been assisted, including 75% of his 3s. His usage rate is down to 22.5% from 27.3% last year. When Jokic is healthy, the Nuggets are treating his post-ups as their bread and butter, rather than the two-man game.
If they can minimize the physical strain on Murray during the regular season while simultaneously increasing his efficiency by using him as a spot-up shooter and distributor more often, the Nuggets would be having their cake and eating it, too. But the fact remains that they paid Murray to be more than that. They particularly need to see the alpha-scorer within him when Jokic is out.
“He’s the starting point guard that helped us win a championship,” Malone said when asked whether Murray needs to be more of a scorer or a facilitator for teammates without Jokic. “In those Finals, he averaged 10 assists per game. He averaged 20 points per game. So I wouldn’t say just one or the other. Jamal has gotta be a playmaker, which he was tonight. Seven assists. And he’s gotta be a scorer for us. Because if it’s not him, you’re asking some really young players to try and carry a load that they’re probably not ready to carry.”
Such as Braun, who still somehow compiled his 13 points on fewer shot attempts than Murray on Sunday. The 27-year-old point guard was 6 of 15 from the floor and 1 of 6 from 3-point range. On the road trip, he is 3 of 14 beyond the arc.
The second half of Denver’s loss to the Pelicans wasn’t quite the platonic ideal of Murray, but it was a display of fundamentally solid, high-IQ read-and-react basketball. There was no talk of him lacking aggression from Nuggets lead assistant coach David Adelman after the loss. Murray had responded well to getting relentlessly blitzed on ball screens.
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Ball pressure caught up with him in Memphis. Six turnovers. One for each made shot.
“Teams are trying to take him out,” Malone said. “When Nikola Jokic isn’t playing, the whole game plan is to shut down Jamal and Michael. And obviously, tonight, that was effective. They did a really good job.”
But for Murray to stand out as more than just Jokic’s point guard, sometimes he’ll have to simply beat good defense with better ball-in-hand offense.
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