There has been plenty of drama and excitement at the Olympic Games in Paris and that applies to the basketball tournament that is reaching the end of group play. As far as Denver Nuggets fans are concerned, the results have been fairly mixed, but mostly positive.
Jokic and Murray both in great shape to advance to quarterfinals in Paris
Nikola Jokic has looked excellent for Team Serbia, keeping his team competitive against the United States, and leading a dominant victory over Puerto Rico. Jokic appears to be in great shape and has put a bit of an exclamation point on his NBA MVP awards with his brilliance in the international setting.
Jamal Murray on the other hand, has not looked so great. He doesn’t seem to be in the best shape and looks like he may not be 100% healthy either. The coach recently said that Murray has been on a minutes restriction and he has failed to find any rhythm on the floor for Team Canada on either end of the floor.
But despite their individual play, it’s Jokic and Serbia who still have work to do in their final group play game. Groups A and B will wrap up group play on Friday with their final games and Group C will do the same on Saturday.
What's at stake for Murray and Canada?
Canada and Murray are 2-0 and lead Group A entering their game on Friday against Spain. They have already clinched a spot in the quarterfinals, so the pressure is mostly off. The only team that can catch Canada and win the group is Spain, but they must beat Canada and make up a 22-point difference for the tiebreak. So as long as Canada doesn’t get blown out, they will win the group.
Nuggets fans should just want to see Murray play well at this point. It doesn’t seem like he’s going to shut it down or stop playing, so the hope is he can at least look better. It would be nice to see him moving around better and knocking down a few shots. That would be an improvement over what we’ve seen so far.
What's at stake for Jokic and Serbia?
Serbia enters their final game of Group C on Saturday in second place behind the USA. Despite being 1-1, they have an impressive point differential thanks to destroying Puerto Rico. They’ll face South Sudan on Saturday. The simplest way to look at it is that they’ll advance to the quarterfinals with a win. But advancing with a loss is still very much in play as long as they don’t get blown out and some other outcomes go their way.
Nuggets fans would love another game like the last one where Jokic completely dominates so thoroughly that he gets to rest the entire fourth quarter. Otherwise, just enjoy watching the big man go to work; maybe he can make more history or put up a triple-double.