The List: Jamal Murray unlocked the Denver Nuggets' offense

“The List” is a brand new series that serves as a companion piece for the “Notebook” episodes of the Locked on Nuggets podcast and the DNVR Nuggets podcast. In this edition, I share some notes on a feel-good win over the Memphis Grizzlies.

1. One of the biggest reasons that the Denver Nuggets’ offense has struggled so far this season is that teams are getting away with sagging off of the Nikola Jokic-Jamal Murray pick and roll (PnR). They’ve been able to do this thanks to Jokic’s 24% 3FG percentage and Murray’s shockingly low three-point attempt rate. Sunday’s game provided excellent examples of this issue, as well as examples of how dynamic the offense can be when they are able to force the defense to extend itself out further when guarding that PnR.

The first clip is taken from the first quarter when Jonas Valanciunas was able to sink deep into the paint and play goalie, unconcerned with Murray’s pull-up three-point shot off of the PnR. In the example, Murray gains enough space to pull up for an uncontested three but instead dribbles into the paint before settling for a step back, mid-range fallaway. Quite possibly the single worst shot in NBA basketball.

The second clip is from the second quarter, where Murray sets his feet and steps into a pull-up three, a shot Valanciunas is purposefully giving Murray since he knows he rarely takes this shot.

This is one of the keys to unlocking the Nuggets’ offense. If defenses are going to concede an open three-pointer from your best shooter and scorer, then you have to be willing and able to knock it down. Murray took this one in part because he was on fire and had the confidence to take it but it needs to be part of his arsenal even on nights when he isn’t on pace for 50 points.

Chris Marlowe had this great line tonight: “You don’t want to fall in love with the three ball. You can like it very much, but you don’t want to fall in love.” That’s an appropriate message and this specific pull-up three-pointer can be a slippery slope toward completely chucking up garbage attempts. But the Nuggets need a healthy dose of this shot in order to force the defense to play them honestly.

2. When defenses are worried about that specific pull-up three out of the PnR, they change up their coverage. In the clip below, the Grizzlies brought their big up to attack Murray in the PnR, preventing him from taking an open shot. This is when the Nuggets’ offense really begins to roll.

3. When the Nuggets’ offense really got rolling in the second quarter, they were able to create multiple single-side tags, meaning several possessions where they were able to force the help to come from the side of the floor that only had one floor spacer. That means that there is no one to help the helper and rotate over to the corners. When Jokic gets a head of steam rolling to the basket against a single side tag, he gets a little fancy.

4. One of the things that makes Jokic so special is how quickly he is able to deliver passes. Here, he makes the read to the corner so quickly that the defense has no chance of recovering. When people talk about Jokic as the best passing big man of all time, it isn’t just the volume of assists, the accuracy, or the vision, it’s also the timing which is always so on point.

5. It was nice to see Gary Harris take a few regular jump shots from the free throw line off of the PnR. His propensity to go to his floater from that spot has been one of the anchors on the offense this season.

6. In the very first edition of THE LIST, I pointed out an example of how Paul Millsap missed an opportunity to make one of my favorite cuts off of a driving Will Barton. Here is that clip:

And here is a near identical play from Sunday’s game in which Millsap makes the cut.

7. So much is made of a team’s playbook or what play they run in which moment but for large portions of the game, plays are only starting points for a team to establish an offensive rhythm and hopefully create a small, halfcourt advantage. That advantage can be forcing the defense to switch or forcing a defender to fall slightly behind a play.

But the best offenses segue from a play into a free-flowing offense predicated on basic principles and quick reads of those principles. In the clip below, the Nuggets run “pistol” but then flow perfectly into a series of ball screens and reversals. This is Denver Nuggets basketball.

8. This is my favorite Jokic pass that he throws with regularity. Jokic knows what Millsap is going to do before the pass even arrives from Murray. From there, he’s just setting up the defense by locking in on Harris in the corner, getting the scrambling defenders to freeze in their tracks as he whips a one-handed hook pass. It’s art on a basketball court.

9. The Nuggets have placed Jerami Grant and Mason Plumlee into a double high screening action a few times this year when those two have shared the court but in last night’s game, they made a simple adjustment. Rather than have Plumlee roll to the rim and Grant pop for three, they had Grant set a pindown screen for the shooter in the corner. This scrambles the help side rotations and creates just enough confusion for the defense to get caught in between Monte Morris and Plumlee for the alley-oop.

10. Paul Millsap is an elite defender despite lacking top-end physical tools. He’s not especially tall or long-limbed, he doesn’t jump very high, and he’s not lightning quick. What makes him so good is that he has mastered all of the little details and plays in a constant state of dialed in. In the clip below, watch how he sits on Jaren Jackson Jr.’s right shoulder, knowing that the second-year big man relies very heavily on his left handed jump hook.

Jackson scored the bucket but Millsap still made the shot 40% more difficult by taking away the middle of the court and sitting on that shoulder.

11. Lastly, this is the play that caused Michael Malone to pull Michael Porter Jr. out of the game and placed on the bench for the remaining 5+ minutes of the 4th quarter.

Porter Jr. clearly screws up the coverage and it results in a wide open dunk that cuts Denver’s lead to…27 points. Malone seemed furious with Porter after this play and you can see his frustration boiling over as the broadcast cuts to the break.

But why is Malone so upset? Yes Porter Jr. screwed up the defensive coverage and it is very likely that it is a coverage he has screwed up countless times in practice. But despite what your average couch potato basketball fan thinks, NBA defense is incredibly hard. The pace of play is so fast and the talent is so high that these kinds of micro-decisions are happening every second of every game. Calculating at that speed takes a lot of time.

Porter Jr. screwed up. But what good does it do to bench a player who is most likely going to learn through experience? The Nuggets might not have a 30-point 4th quarter lead again for a long time. These minutes are incredibly valuable. Punishing Porter by not playing him seems like a move that is far too reliant on principle than on practicality. Porter Jr. hadn’t played basketball in two years before this season. He’s going to make mistakes. Let him work through those mistakes on the court when you get a chance.