Grading the performances: 1st Olympic games for Nuggets stars Jokic and Murray

The Nuggets’ two international superstars were each in action over the weekend, representing their home countries at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Jamal Murray took the floor for Team Canada in their first game while Nikola Jokic led Serbia into the tournament.

Neither Murray nor Jokic had played competitively since the Nuggets were eliminated from the NBA playoffs in May. That was a disappointing ending to the season, but the players have had some time to rest and decompress and fans were eager to see how they would look in the marquee international basketball competition in the world.

Canada 86 Greece 79 Final (Saturday)

Murray: 8 points, 0 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 turnovers, -21

It was a mixed bag for Murray as Team Canada took the floor on Saturday. He came off the bench and played just under 18 minutes in a sixth-man role. He struggled to get into a rhythm offensively and didn’t look to be moving extremely well. The team played poorly with Murray on the floor and he wasn’t able to carry a second unit on either end when Shai Gilgeous-Alexander sat.

Murray, of course, was injured in the playoffs and playing through a number of lower body ailments. There was hope that Murray would be 100% for the Olympics, but based on one game, that doesn’t appear to be the case.

He settled in a little bit as the game went on, but never really got it going. The biggest moment - perhaps of the entire game - came with Canda up by three and just over 15 seconds to play. Murray was fouled and calmly knocked down two clutch free throws to seal the game. But overall it was a pretty uninspiring performance from Jamal, even in a winning effort.

United States 110 Serbia 84 Final (Sunday)

Jokic: 20 points, 5 rebounds, 8 assists, 4 steals, 4 turnovers, +0

For Jokic, it was almost the opposite story from Murray. Nikola looked pretty great on both ends, clearly anchoring this Serbia team and creating everything for his countrymen. It’s pretty miraculous that he played over 30 minutes and had an even plus/minus despite his team losing by 26 points.

That just goes to show how incredible of a player the Joker is and the level to which he is able to prop up his teammates. He got the best of Joel Embiid consistently and made several other US players look foolish on occasion. 

Unfortunately, he didn’t have the dogs to run with him on that night. But it’s easy to see the team’s vision, playing around the MVP. Serbia must hope that if these teams match up again, the shooters will be on fire around Jokic and the shooters from the USA cool off a bit.