Jamal Murray had a breakout game of sorts in the Nuggets 108-111 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves Sunday night scoring 17 points on 7-13 shooting to go with five rebounds, three assists with only one turnover in just over 20 minutes.
But what made Murray’s night a special and perhaps a season-defining one, was that the rookie put up those numbers and was a team-high +13 plus-minus on the night while playing almost exclusively point guard.
“I thought Jamal Murray did some really good things as a backup point guard,” Michael Malone said after the loss. “I think moving forward, he showed me tonight that maybe we should be giving him some more minutes at point guard. He did a really good job, he was aggressive, he cut. So I was proud of the way Jamal played tonight, his first extensive minutes as a point guard.”
Murray did a little bit of everything in this latest Nuggets’ loss.
He worked effectively out of pick-and-rolls, sticking this jumper in front of Karl-Anthony Towns.
Murray was able to recognize switches and go by bigger defenders who dangerously ventured out beyond the paint.
Here, Murray goes right by Cole Aldrich for a crafty floater. The 19-year-old is 9-18 on floaters this year, per NBA.com. Stephen Curry is 14-25, John Wall is 10-15, and Kyrie Irving is 4-11 on that type of shot for comparison’s sake.
Murray even showed a nice bit of chemistry with Nikola Jokic as the two connected on this give-and-go in the second quarter.
In limited playing time this season, only 385 minutes, the Nuggets have a 1.2 Net Rating and are a +20 plus-minus when the two share the floor.
“I felt like I was at home,” Murray said. “I love playing the point, my natural position.”
Murray entered the second half against Minnesota with 2:53 left in the third quarter and Denver trailing 74-78. He was part of a unit that also featured Darrell Arthur, Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler and Gary Harris who were able to take a 100-95 lead by the time Murray gave way to Jameer Nelson with 4:50 to go in the fourth. Minnesota then went on a 16-8 run to close out the Nuggets.
“It was a lot of fun, a lot of cutting, a lot of movement, it was hard for them to keep up for us,” Murray said of that third-quarter run. “Jokic is a great passer, Gary a great cutter, me as well. Darrell was stretching the floor, we had a good unit out there and we had a good stretch.”
When injuries hit Denver’s lineup earlier this season, Murray saw his minutes increase, but as of late, especially since Malone inserted Jokic into the starting lineup on Dec. 15 and cut down his rotation, Murray’s minutes have fluctuated. But even when Murray was playing more, he wasn’t seeing time at point guard. Before Sunday he had played just 60 minutes without either Emmanuel Mudiay or Nelson, per nbawowy.com.
“Yeah, you’re not used to it, so you just got to be patient,” Murray told BSN Denver about his fluctuating minutes. “Not everything’s going to come game-by-game. The organization, they don’t go by the day, they go by the week. Next week, let’s try this lineup or next month, let’s try that. So my expectation, no it’s not going to come immediately.”
Of course, Murray was able to spend so much time at point guard against Minnesota because Mudiay exited Denver’s win over the Clippers Saturday in the third quarter with low back pain, something that was bothering the point guard heading into that matchup. Nelson was elevated to a starting role allowing Murray to shift to the backup.
Nelson didn’t have his best night against the Timberwolves. The veteran, who’s been an important rotation piece for Malone and the Nuggets this season, finished a team-worst -16 and wasn’t at his best on Denver’s second-to-last possession of the game.
Will Malone stick by his pledge to play Murray more at point guard even if that means less minutes for a trusted veteran like Nelson who’s kept the Nuggets’ bench unit afloat at times this season while posting his best numbers since his career-year in 2012?
It’s a choice that becomes even more difficult if Mudiay is able to return to the lineup Tuesday when the Nuggets host the Utah Jazz.
