Jamal Murray offered a blunt assessment of his play following Denver’s 114-110 loss to Toronto on Tuesday.
“I can’t make a layup to save my life,” Murray said on Altitude TV’s post-game broadcast.
The Nuggets’ second-year guard was fresh off a 6-for-18 shooting performance. He was on the floor as Toronto ripped off a 25-9 run in the fourth quarter to hand Denver its fourth loss in six games. Afterward, the frustration began to bubble over.
Murray, who’s averaging 16.6 points per game on 45.1/38.3/90.6 shooting splits, is enjoying a breakout sophomore season in the NBA. He’s established himself as a lethal marksman and has shown flashes of developing into a crunch-time killer. One area of Murray’s game that still needs work, however, is his ability to make decisions on the move.
When Murray has time to let a shot fly, he’s one of the most efficient players in the game. The 21-year-old is averaging 1.24 points per possession on spot-ups, which places him in the 92nd percentile among NBA players. But when Murray is forced to create for himself off the bounce, he’s only a middle-of-the-road player. He averages 0.85 points per possession as the lead ball handler in pick-and-roll situations and 0.92 points per possession coming off of dribble handoffs, according to NBA.com.
The Raptors blocked a season-high 16 shots Tuesday, four of which were denials of field-goal attempts Murray chucked up. Murray’s first shot that got blocked was a case of a bulldog point guard, Kyle Lowry, getting his hands on the ball before Murray could elevate.
The next three denials featured Murray taking on Toronto’s trees in the paint when better options were available.
In the third quarter, Murray barreled into a sea of red as Nikola Jokic, Paul Millsap and Will Barton spotted up along the perimeter. Rather than finding one of them, Murray went up and got smothered by O.G. Anunoby and Serge Ibaka.
Less than two minutes later, Murray was denied again. He came off a dribble handoff and blew by Anunoby, but Jonas Valanciunas got the best of him after he tried a wrong-footed left-handed layup.
Later on in the third quarter, Murray got sent away for the third time in a seven-minute stretch. Murray decided to attack a double team instead of dropping off a pocket pass to Jokic. Bebe Nogueira came over from the weak side and swatted it.
Murray is still developing as a playmaker. Making the pocket pass to Jokic, who’s a phenomenal mid-range shooter, is a must in the Nuggets’ offense. Murray might never whip passes across the floor out of the pick-and-roll like Steve Nash, but he will have to do a better job of making simple plays.
Of course, this is just a small sliver of Murray’s game, which has improved by leaps and bounds in year two. Murray can score from all three zones on the floor already. He’s going to be a deadly outside shooter for years to come. He’s not known as a leaper, but he can throw it down every once in a while. He’s also got a few tricks when he can’t get all the way to the rim.
Give Murray enough reps, and the odds are he’ll figure it out.
