Despite bringing in shooters in the offseason and making it a point of emphasis to get up more threes, the Nuggets are still bottom ten in the league in attempts this season and middle of the pack in makes. But on Monday night, they exploded, tying a team record with 24 made threes in a blowout win over the Jazz.
On the season, they’re averaging under 14 made threes a game, so to see them fly past that mark, nearly doubling it, was a sight for sore eyes. We all know this team is chock full of excellent shooters, and they have the guys to collapse defenses and create open looks.
Once the offensive players are comfortable and playing with confidence, they should be letting it fly on a regular basis, and that’s what we saw on Monday night. Obviously, Denver won’t hit 52% of threes nightly, but this just goes to show, when you take good shots, good things will happen.
Sure, this is an outlier of sorts, but even if they could just find a way to knock down a few extra long-range shots each game, it would make a big difference.
Nuggets shooters finally getting going
Jamal Murray, Tim Hardaway Jr., and Cam Johnson led the way, making six three-pointers apiece. After a very slow start, Cam has really picked it up lately, and this 6-6 night from three was the culmination of some of the great games he has been having lately.
Dating back to November, Johnson has now scored in double figures in 10 of his last 13 games. Even with his abysmal shooting start, Cam is now up to 42.3% on threes for the season. It’s unfortunate that the team is dealing with injuries to key players, but perhaps it has been a blessing in disguise as Johnson has taken on a bigger role, gotten more comfortable in the offense, and has been a deadeye shooter for over a month now.
There may be a readjustment of sorts when Aaron Gordon and Christian Braun return to the starting lineup, but these guys are all proven veterans and winners. They should be able to fit in around Jokic and Murray, and if they play the right way, the shots and scoring opportunities will always be there.
We’ll see if this translates to more volume going forward, or if it was a one-night shooting blip by Denver, but either way, it’s great to see that this ability exists when needed.