Nuggets’ 2-man game of Jokic, Murray setting new pick-and-roll standard

DENVER (AP) —Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra practically snickered when askedabout neutralizing the effective two-man game played by DenverNuggets teammates Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray.

“Yeah, wheredo you start? You have two guys that can score 50 in a playoffgame. One guy is a triple-double machine that loves to get guysinvolved,” Spoelstra said.

“You go downthe list of myriad of things you can do defensively, you have tocheck off some things that you don’t really want to do because ofboth their ability to score and Jokic’s ability to create somethingoff-script.”

Spoelstraknows what the Heat are up against; it’s nothing new for Denver.The Nuggets’ potent duo has been nearly unstoppable in poweringDenver’s 13-3 run through the playoffs, including a104-93win in Game 1.

A win Sundaynight would make them just the second team this century to win itsfirst 10 home games in a single postseason. The Nuggets’ run towhat they hope is their first NBA championship is being fueled byJokic and Murray.

They’reentering the pantheon of pick-and-roll royalty of standard-bearersJohn Stockton and Karl Malone. But the Nuggets do it with adifferent twist.

WhereasMalone set up almost all of the screens for Stockton when they wereUtah Jazz teammates, Denver’s version is ambidextrous, doubling thedifficulty of deciphering much less defusing it.

“Three, fouryears ago, the No. 1 pick-and-roll combo in the entire NBA wasNikola and Jamal,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone recalled. “And mostpeople would just assume that it was Nikola setting for Jamal. Itwas actually the opposite. It was Nikola handling and Jamalsetting.

“The reasonit was so effective, aside from the obvious — two really talentedplayers — is that Jamal is big, strong, physical and not afraid ofcontact. Some guys like to slip out of every screen because theydon’t want to make that contact, they don’t want to give themselvesup,” the coach added. “Jamal from early in his career here, he’sshown that he’s willing to go and set a screen on a big guy, smallguy, doesn’t matter, because he’s tough.

“The secondpart of that is he also knows that if Nikola has the ball and hescreens, his man has to help, which will give him separation. Ifyou want to simplify the game of basketball, it comes down toseparation.”

Both Murrayand Jokic are three-level scorers who can shoot 3-pointers, makemidrange jump shots and drive to the basket. Their Game 1performance put them in some elite company.

Heading intothe series opener, only Michael Jordan in 1991 and RussellWestbrook in 2012 had at least 25 points, 10 assists and fiverebounds in an NBA Finals debut. Jokic and Murray added their namesto that list Thursday night — Murray had 26 points, 10 assists andsix rebounds and Jokic extended his NBA record with his ninthtriple-double in these playoffs, getting 27 points, 14 assists and10 rebounds.

The onlyother pair of teammates to have 25 points and 10 assists in an NBAFinals game was Magic Johnson and James Worthy, who did it for theLos Angeles Lakers against Boston in Game 1 in 1987.

Murray andJokic have been refining their on-court relationship since Murray’srookie season in 2016, a year after Jokic joined the Nuggets as thenow-hard-to-fathom 41st overall draft pick. Murray was backing upGary Harris and Jokic was coming off the bench behind JusufNurkic.

“We wouldactually come into the game together, and we would run post-ups orjust simple give-and-goes ... and I’d say then we kind of developeda chemistry,” Murray said. “Soon we both started, we startedplaying off each other. We started to figure out where we like theball, when we liked the ball, when I’m going to pass, when he’sgoing to pass, when he’s driving, when to relocate, where torelocate.”

Heat guardKyle Lowry, who is in his 16th NBA season, is hard-pressed to comeup with a better point guard/big man combo.

“Jamal andJokic, they’re deadly because they both can score and pass theball,” said Lowry, noting he played against the San Antonio Spurs’“great combination” of Tim Duncan and Tony Parker. “They’re bigtargets, and they have a great feel for each other.”

Nuggets guardIsh Smith has been on a record 13 teams in 13 NBA seasons and saidhe has never seen anything quite like Denver’s duo. Smith said whatmakes Jokic and Murray so effective is both players are theantithesis of superstars who’d rather go 1-on-1 in isolation.

“It wouldn’twork if Nikola was selfish and, ‘I need the ball,’ and Jamal was aguy that was like, ‘I need the ball all the time,’” Smith said.

The Heat knowthey have to at least slow down the Nuggets.

“We haveproven that we can win and overcome regardless of how the game isgoing,” Spoelstra said. “Ideal situation would be if it’s on ourterms and we are controlling the tenor of the game, but we havealso won games where we haven’t been able to do that for the entiregame.”