“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 the win over the Phoenix Suns on Sunday.
1. Heading into the game against the Memphis Grizzlies exactly one week ago, Jamal Murray was attempting just 4.5 three-point shots per game. The low attempt rate had been a talking point on previous iterations of THE LIST and has been earmarked as one of the culprits for Denver’s slow start to the season offensively. In short, when a guard is unwilling or unable to make himself a threat to shoot the ball off of the dribble out of the pick and roll (PnR), defenses are allowed to pack the paint and take away cutting and driving lanes toward the basket.
In the four games since then, Murray has attempted nine three-pointers per game, more than double his season average. This almost certainly isn’t a coincidence. Following a 39-point game from Murray last Sunday against the Memphis Grizzlies, Nuggets head coach Michael Malone singled out Murray’s three-point attempt rate as a point of emphasis for his young guard. The message was simple: he needed to be hunting for opportunities to take more threes.
The easiest and perhaps most important situation for Murray to find open three-pointers is when his defender goes under a ball screen. In the clip below, Tyler Johnson gets caught on the screen and ducks under but Murray recognizes it a second too late and instead takes an extra dribble before going into a step-back three-point shot.
Murray is capable of hitting step back threes (as we’ll see in a minute) but the shot is still slower and more difficult than if Murray were able to gather right into his shooting motion off of the handoff. More importantly, the big did not step up to contest the three, so Murray neither made the defense stretch out of their comfort zone, nor did he create the best three-point look for himself.
A few plays later, Murray did a better job going right into his proper footwork off of the ball screen, stepping with his inside foot (right) to square up. It’s also noteworthy that Johnson goes over the screen but trails Murray enough that he cannot contest the shot from behind.
Late in the game, Murray provided an example of a good step-back three-point shot. This time, Murray’s step-back is meant to engage the rim protector and draw him away from the paint. Murray reads that his defender got caught on the screen and he sees that the big is attempting to drop in coverage so he gets to his spot out on the wing and rises up for the shot, allowing Nikola Jokic to roll to the rim with great rebounding position.
On the next two plays, the Suns decide to trap the ball in a desperate attempt to generate a steal and prevent the scorching hot Murray from taking any more threes. Murray very calmly reads the trap and finds the release valve, ultimately leading to two wide open corner three-point attempts for Paul Millsap.
2. A few days ago I highlighted Jokic’s lazy recovery speed when showing high on the PnR. In Sundays win, Jokic did a much better job showing on ball screens and hustling to recover back to his man once the on-ball defender fights over the screen.
3. So much of basketball is about reading what your defender is trying to do and making split-second decisions to punish them for their choices. Here, Dario Saric sees that Jokic wants to set a high ball screen so he fronts Jokic in the hope that he can prevent the big Serbian from making his move. But Jokic counters Saric by simply setting the screen on him and trusting that Murray can beat his man off of the dribble.
Few players think quicker than Jokic and Murray seems to be right there lock-step with him on plays like this one.
4. Millsap has a tendency to hang too close to the block when he is spacing the floor from the dunker. Tonight, he had this excellent play where he occupied the space right inside the corner, rather than right outside of the block. Result: a bucket at the rim.
5. Back in Jokic’s rookie season, Will Barton used to call him and Jokic “Kobe and Shaq” because of their chemistry in the two-man game. Perhaps “Stockton and Malone” would’ve been more appropriate.
12-3. Not too shabby.
