How Jamal Murray can bounce back in Game 2

Paul Millsap stood at the three-point line and waited for Jamal Murray to break free from Kawhi Leonard’s grasp. Then he kept waiting. Then he waited some more.

First, Murray ran off a Gary Harris-Nikola Jokic double screen to try and gain some separation from Leonard. The two-time Defensive Player of the year blanketed him the entire way. Murray then cycled back to the corner and finally got the ball from Millsap on a dribble hand-off. He tried to attack but was cut off by Marcus Morris.

It took the Nuggets 11 seconds to get Murray the ball during this early third-quarter possession. The sequence was representative of how the Clippers were able to smother Murray in Game 1. There was 18 seconds remaining on the shot clock when Millsap caught a pass on the wing from Jokic, triggering Denver’s offense into motion. But when Murray finally got the ball, the Nuggets only had five seconds to get off an attempt. His three-pointer over Morris didn’t even draw iron.

The Nuggets knew what they were getting into against the Clippers, as Michael Malone said before the series tipped-off. LA gave Denver a blueprint for how it would defend the Nuggets in the Clippers’ 132-103 blowout win back in February. Then, the Clippers shadowed Murray with a number of defenders but mainly Leonard and held Denver’s point guard to 11 points on 5-12 shooting and two assists.

“When we played them in LA, starting Patrick Beverley, Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, you have three elite defenders on the perimeter and they all took turns guarding Jamal Murray,” Malone said around an hour and a half before Game 1. “Obviously we’re going to have to do a great job of screening, getting our guys open and trying to limit the amount of ball pressure those guys apply.”

In the Clippers’ 120-97 Game 1 win, it was again Leonard who drew the Murray assignment. Per NBA.com tracking data, Leonard spent 4:16 guarding Murray. Paul George was Murray’s primary defender for 3:12. Marcus Morris guarded Murray for 1:01.

Murray’s final stat line — 12 points (5-15 FG’s), six assists — looked somewhat similar to February’s matchup. He never really got going. An ineffective night from Murray coupled with only 15 points (6-14 FG’s), three rebounds and three assists from Jokic meant the Nuggets didn’t have much of a chance in the series opener.

“If Nikola and Jamal combine for 25-30 points. It’s going to be really tough sledding for us,” Malone said.

Murray has his work cut out for him in this series. Against the Clippers, he’s going against the four best defenders he’s seen so far in the playoffs. Leonard’s mantel is overflowing with defensive accolades. George has two first-team and two second-team All-Defense selections to his name. Beverley made first-team All-Defense in 2017 and Doc Rivers thinks so highly of Morris’ defense that the 6-foot-9 forward spent more time guarding Luka Doncic in LA and Dallas’ first-round series than any other Clipper. Leonard, George and Morris are all at least three inches taller than Murray too.

Royce O’Neal is a quality defender who occasionally bothered Murray at times early in the first round of Nuggets-Jazz. He wouldn’t get minutes for the Clippers in the playoffs.

Murray attempted eight three-pointers in 33 minutes in Game 1, which is a solid amount. A few of the threes Murray missed were wide open looks that he knocked down in the Jazz series too. Murray’s just going to have to hit these open shots this series and you wonder if the fatigue from the Nuggets’ seven-game odyssey against the Jazz factored into these misses.

They were gifts from the Clipper defense.

Murray’s teammates can help him out by making better contact on their screens too. In the third-quarter sequence I referenced earlier where Millsap idles at the three-point line while Murray tries but fails to shake Leonard, neither Gary Harris nor Jokic make any contact on their screens.

If Jokic makes just a little bit more contact on these screens below, it would lead to cleaner looks for Murray. Again, there’s a difference when leveling up from the Jazz to the Clippers and less margin for error against LA’s defenders. Instead of Murray shooting these shots over a 6-foot-4 O’Neale and his 6’10” wingspan, it’s over a 6-foot-7 Leonard and his 7’3″ wingspan. Every bit of contact on these screens matters.

Murray needs to have another really strong series for the Nuggets to advance, but he won’t be able to do it alone with the slew of rangy and active defenders the Clippers can throw his way. I think Jokic can have a monster series against Ivica Zubac and Denver likely needs one from its All-NBA big man to advance. It looked like Jokic was trending that direction when he tallied eight points in the first quarter before his production dropped off.

It would be nice if the Nuggets could get some production as well from Michael Porter Jr., who finished with just five points and shot 0-6 from three-point range in Game 1. Porter has made only one of his last 14 attempts from beyond the arc. It’s always tough to count on rookies in a playoff setting though.

Malone thought the Nuggets settled for too many threes in Game 1 and didn’t play off of one another enough, especially after the first quarter and into the second half when the Clippers began pulling away. He wants more 5-on-5 offensive basketball in Game 2, not ISO’s on Leonard with 16 seconds remaining on the shot clock.

“We cant try to play 1-on-1 against a Paul George, a Kawhi Leonard and a Patrick Beverley. They’re too good,” he said. “We have to trust the pass. We have to trust our teammates, move them side to side and then look to attack.”

Of course, it might not matter if Denver doesn’t defend. The Clippers scored 120 points in Game 1 on 57% shooting from the field and 42% from three. Leonard was 12-16 from the floor and was in rhythm on his patented mid-range jumper.

These are just shots Leonard hits.

But there were some nightmarish defensive possession from the Nuggets too, many of which were a jarring reminder of just how porous Denver’s defense was early in its first-round series. Against the Clippers, the Nuggets gave up 15 blow-bys leading to 29 points, Malone said. The Clippers also scored 66 paint points in Game 1.

Remember that momentum in Denver’s series against Utah didn’t shift until the Nuggets stepped up their play on the defensive end of the floor.

Miscommunications like this just aren’t going to cut it. We also know Jokic isn’t effective defending at the rim when he has drivers coming in waves like the Clippers were.

Denver’s defense can also aid Murray and the Nuggets’ offense. It’s going to be difficult for the Nuggets to get quality looks on offense if they’re consistently taking the ball out of the basket and playing against a set defense as sound as the Clippers’ is. That’s what they were up against for most of Game 1.

We know for us to win we have to have better games from Jamal and Nikola, our two best players,” Malone said. “And it also starts on the defensive end. Can we contain 1-on-1 and can we guard the paint?”