The Nuggets played their second game in a row without Nikola Jokic on Sunday night in Memphis, and much like the first game, they looked hapless and lost. Despite playing a Grizzlies team that was also missing their best player, Ja Morant, the Nuggets were all but out of the game by halftime, ultimately losing 105-90.
This comes on the heels of a 101-94 loss in New Orleans on Friday night in which the team demonstrated some anemic offense without Jokic. Well, things were even worse on Sunday as the Nuggets struggled badly on offense, never looking like a team that could consistently generate scoring opportunities.
Jamal Murray needs to get back to his standards
The entire Nuggets team looked bad on Sunday and it’s pretty clear that this team is just not very good with Jokic. But, they should not be this bad. They have a lot of money invested in a lot of good players and those guys need to step up and lead when Jokic isn’t on the floor; chiefly Jamal Murray.
Murray was much-maligned in the offseason, going through various struggles and injury issues. Ultimately, the Nuggets signed Murray to a four-year, max extension that will keep him in Denver for most of the remainder of this decade.
The Nuggets were in a very tough spot, as they didn’t have a lot of leverage and could hardly afford to risk letting Murray walk for nothing after the season. But now they’ve tied themselves to a future that is heavily dependent on Murray playing like a star.
Early returns on the Murray deal don’t look good
But so far, Murray looks like a shell of his old self. He has been unable to make a consistent impact for the Nuggets. It’s certainly concerning given that Murray’s new max deal hasn’t even set in yet.
But thus far, Murray looks like a glorified role-player; a streaky shooter who can provide playmaking in bursts. He doesn’t look like a secondary star or a reliable second option and that was on display in a grim way during these past two losses without the Joker.
The Nuggets needed Murray to raise his game to a higher level and become the primary guy, but instead, he sputtered to just 13 points on 6/15 shooting and 1/6 on three-pointers. The reality of the fact is that the Nuggets are not going to win Jokic-less games getting this kind of effort from Jamal.
It’s a long season and the Nuggets have many more years with Murray locked in. He’s just 27 and it has only been 12 games. It’s not time to panic just yet, but this first month of the season has definitely created cause for concern.