Why Jamal Murray's Performance Could Make or Break the Nuggets

The Denver Nuggets are striving for consistency in their play as they approach the playoffs. Jamal Murray's fluctuating performances are a significant focal point as the team navigates a tight schedule and strives to find their rhythm.

• Overview of the Nuggets' recent results and performance 
• Examination of Jamal Murray's inconsistent play 
• Analysis of potential playoff opponents in the Western Conference 
• Insights into team strategy and lineup adjustments 
• Predictions for upcoming games against key rivals 
• Discussion of the importance of maintaining motivation and focus 

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome Back to Fandom From Afar
• 7:00 Nuggets' Recent Game Highlights
• 15:30 Looking Ahead to the Playoffs

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:04

All right, everyone, welcome back to Fandom From Afar. The nuggets are never boring, and the past couple of weeks it seems like there's so much that's gone on. I'm going to cover some of it and then we're going to talk about the Western Conference as a whole because, if you can believe it, there are only 21 games left in the season before the playoffs start. So we are not that far away and I want to kind of start thinking about some matchups of, maybe, teams that the Nuggets should be hoping win a few more games and those that they should be hoping lose a few more games, to give ourselves the best chance of winning once the playoffs start. So I'm recording this on Wednesday, the Nuggets play the Sacramento Kings.

Speaker 1: 0:49

Tonight they just came off of a four-game road trip which, of course, they won, lost, won, lost in typical Nuggets fashion, and the games were interesting in their own ways. The first game against the Pacers all the Nuggets starters played really well, the Nuggets looked good and our hopes were high. Then they go to Milwaukee, and Milwaukee doesn't even play that well, but the Nuggets just they couldn't do anything Besides Jokic. Really everyone had a pretty terrible game. And then, of course, the following night playing the Pistons. Pistons have won eight in a row one of the hottest teams in the league, so of course the Nuggets win. They look good Pistons. They got a lot of good young talent. But obviously I was expecting the Nuggets to win that one and they were able to pull it out. So the big one was on Sunday against Boston, and Boston pulled out to a huge lead right away.

Speaker 1: 1:52

Second half Nuggets came back a little bit, which really it's just a microcosm of the Nuggets season, because in the first half of the Nuggets season because in the first half Jamal Murray looked like he could not be bothered to move or try or play hard, and then in the second half he got motivated and was amazing. And that's just Jamal. We love him when he's playing and trying hard and Nuggets fans just cannot understand why he can't be that way to start a game. It seems like he has to have someone talk trash to him. In this case I believe one of the players was talking trash to him and he kind of took a hard fall and fell on his back and so he loves the pain, he loves the difficulty of fighting through an injury and he just can't motivate himself to try hard in a regular season game if there's not that extra incentive. And it's just so frustrating because the Nuggets hung in there in the second half with the Celtics when Jamal was playing like he should.

Speaker 1: 3:05

In the second half with the Celtics when Jamal was playing like he should and this was with MPJ not really doing much without Aaron Gordon for the whole game, with Russell Westbrook being pretty ice cold from three, and still we were hanging in there in Boston against one of the best teams and we shouldn't have to fight from 20 points down every time because Jamal Murray just decides not to try. So I think Jamal's putting a ton of pressure on himself for the playoffs. If he does this in the playoffs and can't flip that switch and dominate and we get eliminated early, I would not be surprised if they trade him. And if he is motivated and plays like he should, I would also not be surprised if we win the championship again. It's that big of a swing and he makes that big of difference, yet we can't get him to try consistently and I don't know what to say. That is just Jamal and we are paying him so much money and it's just frustrating. But hopefully come June he'll be there and we'll be excited. But I just think this road trip just was a perfect showcase to show how inconsistent the Nuggets are and we just never know what team is going to show up. So frustrating, but we are in a good spot. And so I kind of want to go over what the West standings look like, how I kind of view what a matchup with each team would look like for the Nuggets, like how I kind of view what a matchup with each team would look like for the Nuggets, and then we'll kind of finish it off with just my dream scenario for how these last few weeks will turn out.

Speaker 1: 4:53

So obviously, number one is Oklahoma City. They have had an amazing season. They really are an amazing team. I love how they've been built, just how the players fit together. They are just a team full of two-way guys that play outstanding defense and can do just enough offense. And then obviously, shea Gilgis-Alexander is absolutely incredible for their offense. He's probably going to win MVP. I'll probably do a full segment on that here, maybe in the next episode, because it is funny how everyone, when talking about the MVP, goes Jokic is the best player in the league, but I got to give the MVP to Shea. It's obviously a narrative that they like they want to give it to someone new and it's fine, like the one year Jokic didn't win MVP. A couple of years ago we won the championship. I hope that happens again and it happens to all the best players Like. There's probably so many years where LeBron or Jordan should have won MVP but the voters were tired of voting for them so they gave it to someone else and we saw how that kind of worked out for Embiid. We'll come out the other side and know that Jokic is still the best player.

Speaker 1: 6:18

But the Thunder are incredible. They are the one seed. There is no doubt they are the best team in the West are incredible they are the one seed. There is no doubt they are the best team in the West and they look pretty unstoppable right now. They blow everyone out. Their defense is swarming. It seems like even the best offenses can't get much done against their guys, and it's not even just their starters. They bring in guys like C wallace and alex caruso who are incredible defenders themselves. So it's just kind of funny comparing them to the nuggets. I would say the thunders sixth best defender would be our best defender. They are just absolutely loaded with quality defenders and that's why they're so scary.

Speaker 1: 7:03

They do have an amazing team, but they are so young. It's kind of incredible how young they are and how good they are already. But with that, youth has come in experience. They've been to the playoffs a few times, but just first or second round, and so it's going to be fascinating to see how they handle the high pressure situations and if they can do it for four series in a row. Now they're good enough where I would not be surprised if they do and they win the championship. But if we're looking at a possible Nuggets matchup, the fact that the Nuggets have that experience and somewhat match up size-wise if not have the advantage size-wise with the Thunder, it would be 50-50 in my eyes. I would not be surprised either way. Obviously the Thunder will have home court advantage, but just the fact that we have Jokic going up against either Chet Holmgren or Isaiah Hartenstein, it's a huge advantage. Now, obviously they have Shea going against either Jamal Murray or Christian Brown, so that's an advantage for them. But Jokic controls the game in so many ways that while I think we would be underdogs, I would not be surprised if they could pull out a series against the Thunder.

Speaker 1: 8:35

Now the Lakers are number two. They have been absolutely on fire with Luka Must be nice to have undercover agents working for other teams. That will just give you a superstar for nothing, man. I still can't believe that trade, but it happened and the Lakers look amazing. One of those amazing games. They destroyed the Nuggets and they're looking scary. They're. I would say their pieces fit really well together. Luka and LeBron are very similar, but LeBron is enough of a two-way player where he seems to have taken a little bit of a backseat to Luka and then he just explodes. And so LeBron has been putting up these huge numbers because Luka is doing a lot of the heavy lifting and LeBron just gets to attack the other team's lesser defenders and it's working out really well. Obviously, austin Reeves is a great player for them too.

Speaker 1: 9:37

Again, looking at the matchup with the Nuggets, it's just such a huge advantage for the Nuggets to have Jokic versus Jackson Hayes or whoever they're going to throw out there. To have Jokic versus Jackson Hayes or whoever they're going to throw out there, it would be an extremely tough series. I think it would be much closer than the past two years where we've eliminated the Lakers from the playoffs, but it would be fun to watch and I would still take the Nuggets in a series against the Lakers Now Nuggets are number three right now. Nuggets in a series against the Lakers Now Nuggets are number three right now. They, like I said, they really need Jamal AG MPJ to play the way they should. We are just so inconsistent that it's possible that we could beat any team and lose to any team, and that's just the way they are right now. Unfortunately, we just had Julian Strother get injured, but we are getting Peyton Watson and Vlatko Kanchar back from injury, so it's going to be interesting these last couple of weeks to see if those guys can get back into rhythm, if Jalen Pickett can fill in for Julian Strother and we can find some sort of consistency. Gotta get that consistency because right now, like I said, they play the Kings tonight. I would not be shocked if we lose to the Kings and then we play the Thunder on Sunday and I would not be shocked if we beat the Thunder on Sunday. It's just who we are.

Speaker 1: 11:07

The Grizzlies are fourth. They used to be second. Obviously, the Lakers and Nuggets have been playing really well. Grizzlies are falling a little bit. Jaron Jackson Jr just got hurt, so that's not going to help them at all. John Morant has been dealing with a shoulder injury all season, so he's been in and out.

Speaker 1: 11:25

The Grizzlies are one of those teams that they have a lot of talent. They really are talented, but for some reason they just seem to be a tier below the teams I've talked about so far, and I wouldn't be surprised if they keep falling down the standings to the point where it's possible. The Nuggets play them in the first round, but any team with the quality of players that they have I haven't even mentioned Desmond Bain yet, who is. I just love the way he plays with his little T-Rex arms, but he's a great player and I would not be surprised if they put up a fight. If the Nuggets do play them in a matchup and again, though, I could see the Nuggets winning that matchup the Nuggets can beat anyone. They just are so inconsistent.

Speaker 1: 12:13

The Rockets are in fifth place right now. Again, they're kind of like the Thunder, but a couple years behind where the Thunder are. They have so many good young players, they're building a team the right way and their coach is tremendous. So they're tough, talented, but I would say they're too young. This would be a great experience for them to get into the playoffs and play one of those top teams, put up a fight, but I just don't think this is their year. But they are talented enough where they could possibly shock somebody.

Speaker 1: 12:45

Now, if they happen to match up with the Nuggets, I do think the Nuggets would get past them somewhat easily. But I do see them as one of the teams kind of on the rise and will be tough for the next couple years. Now, after the Rockets, I think there's a big drop-off in the teams as far as talent or even just kind of how scared I would be if the Nuggets were facing them in a playoff matchup. So right now the Clippers are in sixth and if they have Kawhi healthy, that definitely makes for a tough matchup. Norman Powell's been playing great, james Harden's always good, but it's so unlikely that Kawhi can stay healthy. It's just they don't fit together. They're a bunch of individuals. I zubach he always puts up a good matchup against yokich, so it's not quite the advantage that uh yokich would be against some of the other teams, but obviously it is still an advantage and I just think the nuggets would handle business pretty easily.

Speaker 1: 13:44

The warriors are moving up that I wouldn't be surprised if they move up past the clippers, past past the Rockets or even past the Grizzlies. The Jimmy Butler trade seems to have really kind of energized that team. They're playing really well together. Steph has a new life and they're looking good. But their biggest player is Jimmy Butler, who's like 6'7". So again, in a matchup with the Nuggets, the Nuggets are huge Jokic 7'0", monster MPJ 6'10", aaron Gordon 6'9". And if you're going up against a small team like the Warriors are putting out right now, if we can somehow stop a three-point barrage and just hold them to a half-court offense, then I think the Nuggets would have no problem.

Speaker 1: 14:38

T-wolves, t-wolves they're strange. They have a really good team but just haven't put it together this year and, as I predicted in the preseason, julius Randle has not been good for them. I've never really liked his game, but I think they're starting to figure some stuff out and I'm almost wondering, because Randall's been out with an injury, if they're going to come play off time, just maybe not play him very much, because they've been playing so much better without him. So it's funny because they are pretty low in the standings and there's a very good chance that the Nuggets would play them in the first round or even second round and, truthfully, they would be one of the scariest teams for the Nuggets to play. Nas Reed, rudy Gobert they match up really well with Jokic and we've seen we saw last year they can somewhat limit Jokic and if the other guys on the team are not shooting well or, in Jamal's case, having a mental breakdown, then they will beat us. And so, even though their record is one of the poorest that we're going to talk about today, I would say they're one of the scariest, besides the Thunder, obviously, that I think the Nuggets would struggle with. I would still expect them to win, but it's very possible, if the T-Wolves come out and we play like we did last year, that they would beat us. So I'd almost say this is like a 50-50 matchup Now, teams 9 through 11, it's kind of switching every day, but it's the Kings, it's the Mavericks, it's the Suns.

Speaker 1: 16:03

The Kings, they're okay, that's the best I can say for them. Uh, so bonus, he, he's good and Zach Levine's good. Tamar DeRozan is fine, but I would not be scared of them in in the in the playoffs. Uh, the Phoenix suns they're a dumpster fire. They have some talent. But, man, if you have ever wanted to see a basketball team that hates playing with each other, watch the Phoenix Suns, because it's almost like they just cannot wait for the season to end already, and I can't wait to see what they do during the offseason. Now, while the Suns are a dumpster fire. Sadly, it's even worse for the Mavericks.

Speaker 1: 16:50

The Mavericks obviously did the Luka trade. Everyone could not believe they did it, and it's only gotten worse since giving up their 25-year-old superstar and getting nothing in return. What they did get in return was an injury-riddled Anthony Davis. He lasted one half and, surprise, surprise, got hurt. They were going to build around Anthony Davis and Kyrie. Sadly, kyrie tore his ACL just the other day, so now it's very possible that Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving only play one half of basketball together, and this trade just looks like the biggest disaster in really all of sports like it. It cannot be understood how bad this is looking and I just feel so bad for mavs fans. My boss at work is a mavs fan and, uh, condolences.

Speaker 1: 17:45

So my ideal final standings if I could kind of press the fast forward button and have the standings work out exactly how I, as a Nuggets fan, would want them would be as follows Obviously, the Thunder are going to be in first. That's just not up for debate. For the eighth seed, I would like the T-Wolves, I would like the T-Wolves. Obviously, these standings I'm going to stack to make as hard as possible for the Thunder and as easy as possible for the Nuggets. So I do think the T-Wolves would present a tough matchup for the Thunder, just like they would for the Nuggets. Their size, anthony Edwards. Just, I think they're going to give whoever they play a tough matchup and I would love it to be the Thunder.

Speaker 1: 18:32

Now I'm going to have the Nuggets finish, as the two seed, as well as the Lakers are playing right now. I don't know if that's going to be possible, but I do see. If the Nuggets finish two, I would love for them to play the Kings. As I mentioned, they are as meh as you could possibly be, and so I want to play them. The Grizzlies will be in third in this scenario and we'll have them play the Clippers. Now, I don't know who I would want to win that matchup Probably the Grizzlies, because I think the Nuggets can match up with the Grizzlies much easier. Like I said, zubach does put up a tough matchup for Jokic and then obviously going against Kawhi and James Harden could be difficult. So let's hope that the Grizzlies come out on top there and then in this scenario I had the Lakers all the way down at the fourth seed.

Speaker 1: 19:22

I can dream, can't I? And I have them taking on the Rockets. I think that'd be a rock fight. I think it would beat up the Lakers a little bit. I would expect them to come out on top, but I think it would be tough. So that would mean that the Thunder and the Lakers would play each other in the second round and Nuggets versus Grizzlies. So obviously I like that matchup a lot better for the Nuggets. We're hoping that we breeze through the Grizzlies and the Thunder either get upset or have an extremely hard fought battle with the Wolves and the Lakers, and they are in this scenario just dragging their feet and beat up and just cannot face the Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals. And the Nuggets win and we win the championship. Hurrah Dream scenario probably won't happen, but we can dream right.

Speaker 1: 20:15

So the last couple of weeks are going to be so interesting. I actually cannot wait. Like I said, nuggets have a matchup against the Kings and the Suns this week, but then Sunday, monday, back to back, we play the Thunder. I think that could go a long way in determining the MVP race. I think that could go a long way in determining the MVP race. I think it could go a long way in determining how confident the Nuggets are going into the playoffs. And I think it's going to be just really interesting to see how each team reacts after that first game. Obviously, whoever loses that first game could be extra motivated. Whoever wins that first game could maybe take it easier in the second game, or they could try and really prove a point to win both games. So I cannot wait for those two games and I hope that y'all will be able to watch them as well. That's all I got for today. Thank you, guys. So much for listening and we will talk to you next time.