The Denver Nuggets were off to a slow start from the three-point range this season compared to their league-leading 39.6% efficiency last season. But after a blistering hot three-point parade from Jamal Murray and Christian Braun in the Nuggets' 127-120 win over the Phoenix Suns in the first game of the NBA Cup, they're right back within striking distance of taking over the top spot. They'll have to continue that efficiency as long as they avoid putting up easy buckets from the paint.
Murray and Braun became the first pair of Nuggets teammates to each make 7 or more three-pointers in the same game. Who had Braun on their bingo card to be in that combo? Braun's been playing great to start the year, and his three-point shot is one of the things that was holding him back from becoming an elite role player for the Nuggets.
On the night, Braun was 7-for-9 from downtown, while Murray continued his great start by matching that 7-for-9 number. The Nuggets made 20 threes as a team and shot 54.1% from deep to pull them to 7th in the league through five games at 37.4%. They'll have to keep that up if they keep having games with 32 points in the paint, like they did against the Suns.
The lack of paint scoring is concerning
The paint is where Nikola Jokic usually does most of his damage, but he's been off to a slow start for Jokic's standards this year, and the paint numbers show it. The Nuggets rank just 25th in paint points per game through five games at just 42.8 points. Jokic's only averaging 21.2 points, which would be his lowest total since 2019-20, when he scored 19.9 per game for the season. Sure, it's only five games, and that number is sure to increase, but Jokic had just 10 of his 18 points in the paint against the Suns and was 0-for-1 from three.
The Nuggets were the top-scoring team in the paint in 2024-25 at 58.5 points per game, but they slipped to 18th with 48.7 points last year, and the trend looks to be carrying on.
The Nuggets did the majority of their damage from beyond the arc and in the midrange against the Suns. But with a lack of easy buckets in the paint, they won't be able to settle for much less than perfection from three moving forward. Which means if they have an off shooting night, it could be a long night unless the frontcourt starts to make headway in their paint production.
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