How Monte Morris became the NBA's most clutch player...at the end of the first and third quarters

Monte Morris has been the NBA’s most clutch player over the last two seasons…at the end of the first and third quarters.

With five seconds left in the third quarter of the Nuggets’ 115-98 win over the Detroit Pistons, Morris came off a Mason Plumlee ball screen and sunk his 18th field goal of the year in the final 30 seconds of either the first or third quarter. On the season, Morris has made the third-most shots of that variety behind only Jayson Tatum (19) and Russell Westbrook (22). Last year, Morris sunk a league-high 28 field goals in the final 30 seconds of the first and third quarters, five more than Lou Williams and Chris Paul who tied for second.

“I wasn’t aware of that but I’m not surprised,” Michael Malone said when informed of the stat.

Morris didn’t know about of his late-first and third-quarter scoring prowess over the last two seasons either.

“I’ve missed a lot,” Morris joked. “I know that.”

But he actually hasn’t misfired too often, at least compared to the rest of the first and third-quarter clutch leaderboard. Morris is shooting 18 of 34 (52.9%) in the final 30 seconds of first and third quarters this season.

Most FG’s made in the last 30 seconds of the 1st and 3rd quarters (2019-20)

Last season, Morris converted on 28 of his 55 attempts (50.9%) in the last 30 seconds of first and third quarters.

Most FG’s made in the last 30 seconds of the 1st and 3rd quarters (2018-19)

His most popular and effective shot in those late-quarter situations is the pull-up jumper. Morris is shooting an absurd 17 of 27 on jumpers when there’s 30 seconds left in the first or third quarters this season but just 1 of 7 on layups.

He has dished out seven assists in the last 30 seconds of first and third quarters this season too, most of which have gone to Mason Plumlee who Morris likes to frequent in the high pick-and-roll. But after the success that the duo had in the two-man game last season, Morris has sensed that defenses are sagging off of him more in that action once he gets downhill and forcing him to take the pull-up jumper rather than toss an alley-oop to Plumlee.

“Last year it was open so much so they didn’t really expect me to throw it,” Morris said. “Now it’s hard. They’re yelling for it before I’m coming off screens so it’s been kind of hard for me to connect with Mase like that. We haven’t been connecting as much because teams are just dropping and trying not to give it up.”

The numbers support Morris’ claim. Last season 19.9% of Morris’ assists went to Plumlee, but this year just 33 of his 210 helpers (15.7%) have gone the big man’s direction. To compensate, Morris has either gone to his pull-up jumper or looked to finish at the rim (shots within 4 feet of the basket) where he’s shooting an elite 69% this year, a mark which places him in the 91st percentile  among all point guards, per Cleaning The Glass. Last season Morris shot 59% at the rim.

“At the end of those quarters the ball’s going to be in his hands,” Michael Malone said. “… Most defenses play Mason for the lob and Monte’s aware of that and he’s a a hell of a finisher for a below the rim guy.”

The Nuggets’ bench, which was captained again by Morris who finished with eight points on 4 of 5 shooting to go with five assists and three steals in 26 minutes, enjoyed one of its better outings of the season Tuesday. Jerami Grant tallied a career-high 29 points on 12 of 15 shooting. Michael Porter Jr. found his pre-All-Star Break offensive rhythm and finished with 13 points and eight rebounds and Plumlee added eight points, six rebounds and three assists.

Denver’s new-look bench lineup of Morris, Porter, Grant, Plumlee and Jamal Murray, which Malone deployed for a second-straight game, outscored Detroit 38-18 in 13 minutes. When that five-man unit was on the court Tuesday, the Nuggets shot 15 of 18 from the floor and recorded nine assists.

“I like how coach is doing it. He’s mixing us all in,” Morris said of the staggered second unit lineup. “He’s not just throwing us in a fire and then we’re just giving up runs. I like how he’s doing it and he’s easing everybody in. If we can go forward and play how we played tonight we’ll be tough to beat because we know what our starters are capable of. We’ve just got to be consistent.”

The Nuggets’ refined second unit now excludes Torrey Craig, Denver’s defensive ace who will follow a matchup-dependent deployment for now. If the Nuggets are facing a dynamic lead ball handler like Russell Westbrook, who Craig has fared well against before, he’ll likely get inserted back into the rotation which will force Malone to fine-tune his lineup again.

Regardless of the matchup, Morris will continue to get a somewhat regular dosage of late-quarter attempts, but one aspect of the second unit which could alter the Nuggets’ end of first and third-quarter timeshare is Murray’s presence in the backcourt alongside Denver’s backup point guard.

With seven seconds remaining in the first quarter against the Pistons, a setting ripe for another Morris moment, it was Murray who engaged with Plumlee on a high screen-and-roll. Murray rubbed off of Plumlee’s shoulder and sunk a 22-foot step-back over Thon Maker while Morris waited on the wing in case his backcourt partner needed a release valve.

Murray, along with Morris who’s shooting 38.7% from distance this season, is a gifted 3-point shooter but hasn’t had his most efficient year to date from beyond the arc. But he’s trending upward, and while Murray is only shooting 34.1% from 3-point range this season, the 23-year-old has hit on 41.1% of his triples since returning from an ankle injury on Feb. 4.

No matter who’s handling the ball and spotting up, the Nuggets are at ease when it comes to their late-first and third-quarter shot-making. Morris enjoys the pressure but also the circumstance that comes with those types of shots because make or miss, he has nothing to lose.

“It’s easy because (Malone) can’t really get mad at me. It’s really just a shot and you’ve got to shoot it,” Morris said. “I really just try to read the clock, read the time and just get a good shot up, try to get to my mid-range spots. I like shooting them. I shoot it with confidence.”