Can Jamal Murray continue to dominate?
In Game 1, Jamal Murray scored 12 points on 5-15 shooting from the field and 2-8 shooting from three. As expected, Murray faced a level of defensive pressure against the Clippers assortment of defensive specialists that he didn’t have to contend with against the Utah Jazz. The question for Murray, is if he continue to build off his dominant performance from the series with Utah or if he’ll have to play a bit more of an auxiliary role.
The Nuggets could help Murray by having him play more minutes alongside Monte Morris, as they did when they wanted to relieve the defensive pressure he faced with the Jazz. The two only played 8 minutes together in Game 1, after being on the court together for 17.1 minutes per game against Utah.
Murray may not have to be the team’s best scorer this series, especially if Nikola Jokic continues to excel offensively, but he has to at least be one of them if the Nuggets are going to pull off this upset.