Early in Game 3’s third quarter between the Miami Heat and Denver Nuggets, Jamal Murray wheeled around a screen from Nikola Jokic and beat Bam Adebayo to the edge. When Murray draws two on this action, Jokic is usually open for an automatic swing back for the long ball. Yet Gabe Vincent was lurking, ready to rotate and pounce upon any pass Murray lofted to his superstar pal.
Instead, Murray continued toward the hoop, aware that his exterior release valve was being monitored. As he approached the paint, Kevin Love, with arms and legs spread wide, abandoned Aaron Gordon and met Murray along the baseline. Drifting out of bounds, Murray tossed a leading bounce pass to Gordon, who loomed in the dunker spot, for the slam and sparked a Miami timeout.
Days prior, the Nuggets ran a nearly identical set during the third quarter of Game 2. Murray engaged Adebayo. Jokic popped. Love kept a watchful eye inside. Gordon readied for a potential pass. Another defender (in this case, Max Strus) covered Jokic. That time, Murray, swarmed by Adebayo and Jimmy Butler, extinguished his dribble and enabled Love to stay home against Gordon. While he scanned for an opening, Bruce Brown shuffled to the middle of the key as his man, Vincent, was stuck defending two people.
But Murray’s pass sailed through Brown’s hands and Denver turned it over. A quarter and a half later, the Heat were victorious, tying the series at 1-1, and Murray had wrestled with their pestering, amorphous defensive schemes en route to a muted outing.
On Thursday, though, the Nuggets won handily and Murray returned to his star form with 34 points, 10 boards, and 10 assists. Denver reclaimed homecourt advantage. Murray defined his imprint on the game rather than letting Miami do it for him. After seeing his third-lowest usage rate of the playoffs (24.4 percent) in Game 2, Murray sported his second-highest usage rate (35.4 percent) in Game 3.
He stamped his mark from the outset rather than being passive throughout the early stages like in Game 2, which hampered him separate from the commendable work of Butler, Caleb Martin, and the Heat’s entire defense. There was no repeat of that performance, both because of his sheer aggression and the counters he and Denver implemented to ensure Miami could not stymie him like that anymore.
In Game 2, the Heat shifted Vincent off of Murray and put Butler on him to incorporate more size into the matchup. Murray liked facing Vincent and repeatedly burrowed and weaved to his spots. Butler encroached on his rhythm and took away his airspace. Miami also brought strong-side help from the corners and wings to eliminate room to maneuver in the midrange. Adebayo frequently played at the level in ball-screens and interfered with pocket pass windows to Jokic. Murray wasn’t bad offensively that evening, but he was certainly quieter than normal. That’s a win for Miami and a loss for Denver.
In Game 3, Butler again opened on Murray, who clearly came prepared to neutralize the Heat’s defensive coverages and maintain his effervescent postseason. Schematically, the two most pronounced tweaks were more empty corner connections between Murray and Jokic, as well as amending the angle and location of the initial screen.
Whereas many of the screens in Game 2 were set up top, facing the hoop straight on, Jokic set more angled screens around the wings to grant Murray increased space and time to read how that help defender might act. When they did set angle screens in Game 2, the screens regularly directed Murray toward a crowded side with two shooters.
On Wednesday, Murray flowed off of those angled picks with only one (or no) shooter on the strong-side. Jokic served as a roller more than a popper on these empty corner sets, too, which sprung Murray into less precarious positions. The Nuggets ran some of them in Game 1 when Miami began cheating off of the strong-side against Murray, so the foundation of film and experience already existed. They really hammered it home to unlock their star guard in Game 3.
Denver didn’t dial up an empty corner pick-and-roll every trip down, however. That placed some of the onus on Murray himself to adapt, and adapt he did. Rather than Miami’s stunts forcing him to retreat, reset, or end his live dribble as they did in Game 2, he simply discarded them with sweeping gathers, dexterous dribbling, and beguiling change of pace. One instance, Brown floated from the wing to the corner and brought Martin with him, which freed up a driving lane for his backcourt mate. Unlike Game 2, Murray and the Nuggets were prepared for this approach and rode it to success all night.
Despite the seven turnovers, some of which were not his fault and two of which occurred once the result was decided, Murray’s poise as lead ball-handler was sagacious. Miami switched, trapped, and played drop against his ball-screens. He dissected all of it. His cadence and footwork rendered the defensive versatility moot. He showcased craft and an indelible mindset to feed Jokic on the roll, unswayed by the Heat’s pressure.
In Game 2, only eight (50 percent) of Jokic’s 16 field goals were assisted. In Game 3, 10 (83.3 percent) of them were assisted and one of the two unassisted makes came on a switch against Butler ignited by Murray’s determination. Jokic is a foremost tough shotmaker, but his baskets arrived much easier because of his point guard’s revival. He didn’t have to bust out the H-O-R-S-E trickery to buoy Denver’s offense.
Murray’s shot-making headlined his dazzling game. His decision-making punctuated it. Miami aimed to silence his own bucket-getting, so he seamlessly evolved and invited the league’s premier scorer to carry the mantle.
I cannot predict the Heat’s response. Maybe, they open with Adebayo closer to the level of the screen on Friday. That worked well against Murray in Game 2, but they reverted to traditional drop to open Game 3 — he exploited it to quickly establish his footing against every coverage they employed throughout the night. They could also trap him, cover Jokic with a third defender, and gauge whether Murray can laser more dimes like this.
Independent of scheme, Butler has to be better defensively. He lost track of Murray a handful of times off the ball and often failed to stay attached through screens. Neither were the case when he bottled up Murray during Miami’s win. His offense perked up, but his defense faltered. Him balancing two-way stardom may prove the most practical adjustment.
Eventually, it might not even matter. Head coach Michael Malone and co. are spearheading a clinical playoff run from the sidelines. Murray is a star. Jokic is the superstar of the NBA these days. Their dynamic two-man game is built on “a trust and a feel” fostered through seven years together, and it has this Nuggets squad two wins away from the mountaintop.
