PHOENIX — It was just 22 minutes — many of which came in a second half that amounted to mostly garbage time in the Denver Nuggets’ 130-104 loss to the Houston Rockets — but Monte Morris proved he belonged on the NBA stage.
The 22-year-old was called up from the G League to Denver on Wednesday to provide point guard insurance for the Nuggets heading into the trade deadline and was thrust into duty against the Rockets on Friday after Denver dealt backup point guard Emmanuel Mudiay to New York.
Devin Harris — who the Nuggets acquired from Dallas in the same deal — was unavailable Friday and with only one active point guard in starter Jamal Murray, Morris logged 22 minutes and finished with 10 points, six assists and three rebounds.
Morris was only a minus-one in a blowout where all five of Denver’s starters finished a minus-24 or worse.
In the fourth quarter, a Nuggets’ bench lineup featuring Morris, Malik Beasley, Torrey Craig, Juancho Hernangomez and Trey Lyles played all 12 minutes and outscored the Rockets 34-33. Houston didn’t lay down in the fourth either. Rockets regulars like PJ Tuckers, Clint Capela, Ryan Anderson, Gerald Green and Chris Paul all played in the quarter.
“You look across from you and you’re guarding Chris Paul. That’s someone I always watched and idolized growing up and then I got my first minutes against him,” said Morris, who Denver selected 51st overall in the 2017 draft. “After the first couple of trips you get a little nervous, then it settles down and it’s basketball.”
A self-described floor general, Morris looks to get others involved before searching for his own offense. He’s spent most of the season in the G League, appearing in 32 games for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers this season. Morris is averaging 18.3 points on 48.0 percent shooting from the field and 34.2 percent from three.
The Vipers, who ironically are the Rockets’ G League affiliate, play a similar four or five-out system to Denver’s offense. The terminology is different and a finals week-like cram session at Friday morning’s shootaround got Morris up to speed on most of Denver’s calls. But it has been a relatively easy transition for the Iowa State product.
Morris likes to get up and down and so does Denver. His second-career basket came off a Rockets make but Morris still pushed the ball up the floor and saw Clint Capela switch onto him. Morris attacked and blew by the seven-footer.
He attacked the rim in similar fashion for his third bucket midway through the fourth when he blew by Anderson off the bounce.
Morris’ other two buckets were pretty as well. Late in the third quarter, he intercepted an errant James Harden pass and took it coast-to-coast for a layup.
Morris then broke down Rockets’ reserve guard Markel Brown off the dribble and buried a wide-open jumper.
Morris has strong defensive instincts too — music to Nuggets coach Michael Malone’s ears — and got the stamp of approval from his coach in a postgame conversation shortly after the final buzzer.
“I know coach Malone was proud of me,” Morris said. “He brought me to the side, said he’s very proud of me and could tell I’ve been working.”
“He went out there and ran his team,” Malone said. “Some of the passes that he made were…he made everybody around him better.”
Like all rookies, Morris will have to get used to the speed of the NBA game, something that comes with time.
“The games speed’s a little bit faster, a lot more athletic guys. You’re guarding All-Stars probably nine out of 10 times so that’s the biggest adjustment,” Morris said comparing the NBA to the G League. “But you’ve just got to trust the schemes and trust the process.”
Morris will be with the Nuggets in Phoenix Saturday night too. Harris could be available as long as physicals for the three players involved in Thursday’s trade (Harris, Mudiay and Doug McDermott) process in time. But even if Harris is in uniform and takes Morris’ minutes against the Suns, this won’t be close to the last time that Morris dons Nuggets’ colors.
His future is bright and with Harris on an expiring contract and set for unrestricted free agency this summer, Morris is eying Denver’s full-time backup point guard job for next season.
