The Nuggets came out of the All-Star break and picked up right where they left off, extending their winning streak to nine games by holding off a pesky Hornets squad, 129-115. They showed some rust in the first three quarters, but played their best in the fourth quarter, holding Charlotte to just 19 points in the final frame.
Nikola Jokic finished just shy of a triple-double, tallying 29 points, 17 rebounds, and 9 assists and Jamal Murray continued his hot streak, scoring 34 points on 12/18 shooting and 7/10 from three-point range.
But the biggest takeaway from this game was Russell Westbrook’s return to the rotation after missing seven straight games with a hamstring injury. Russ was having an amazing season and playing great basketball leading up to his injury, enough so that Michael Malone had promoted him to the starting lineup in place of Christian Braun.
Malone wisely keeps Braun in starting lineup over Westbrook
However, on Thursday night, Malone had a change of heart and perhaps even recognized the error in his ways. With his top six players healthy again, Malone reversed course and went back to his original starting lineup of Murray, Braun, MPJ, Gordon, and Jokic, bringing Westbrook off the bench.
This was the right move all along. Braun earned this promotion and he has been nothing short of outstanding as a starter. It never made sense to demote him to a bench role in favor of a player brought in on a veteran’s minimum contract.
Russ was playing very well and had earned the right to start, but this is better for the team. Braun gets to keep his starting job, his confidence, and his role as a cutter, slasher, and defender working off of Jokic and Murray.
Westbrook gets to bring his energy and intensity into the game against tired players and backups and more importantly, he gets to run the show. Having Murray and Russ on the court together is a waste of their skills and relegates one to an off-ball role. Either you’re taking the ball out of your second-best player’s hands in Murray, or you’re forcing Russ to play off the ball where he’s a liability as a spot-up shooter.
This allows Jokic to be paired with an elite offensive partner for every one of his minutes and ensures that either Russ or Murray is playing point guard for the entire game. The move still allows everyone to play big minutes but makes the rotations and different lineups much more cohesive.
Westbrook didn’t have a great shooting night, but he played 25 minutes, scoring 8 points and dishing out 7 assists while the team was +17 with him on the floor. It’s great to have Westbrook back in the fold and having six capable starters is a good problem to have. But it’s clear which five should be starting and thankfully Michael Malone finally seems to agree with that.