In their lone home preseason game of 2023-24, the Nuggets defeated the Chicago Bulls 116-102 on Sunday night at Ball Arena. Here are three takeaways from the win.
NBA’s top two-man game? Officially back
In case it wasn’t enough that Nikola Jokic broke out the Sombor Shuffle on Denver’s first possession at Ball Arena since the Finals, he and Jamal Murray proceeded to remind an admirable preseason crowd of the magic they made here four months ago when the world was watching.
This was almost an off night for them. Interim coach David Adelman wants to get the starters a breather in one of the remaining preseason games, but a hectic week of cross-country travel left him feeling as though the team was slightly behind, especially in terms of conditioning. So instead, the starters played into the second half for the first time. “This is kind of that practice that they missed,” Adelman said.
Denver’s first 23 points were all scored or assisted by Jokic and/or Murray, a streak that was only interrupted once both had checked out of the game near the end of the first quarter. In their best preseason outing yet as a tandem, Murray amassed 21 points on 11 shots, and Jokic ended with 15 points and nine rebounds. A gorgeous alley-oop to a baseline-cutting Aaron Gordon stemmed from Jokic and Murray operating the pick-and-roll. Eventually Murray started feeling saucy, calling for a Jokic iso and refusing to let Jokic do anything else with the ball. The only downside was the relative invisibility of Justin Holiday in the starting five.
Pickett in, Jackson out
For the first time this preseason, rookie point guard Jalen Pickett played first-half minutes and got to overlap with Jokic. Reggie Jackson was second in line behind Murray both games last week and is expected to facilitate the bench unit’s offense when Murray’s minutes aren’t staggered, but the veteran didn’t play at all Sunday, leaving Pickett with some room to prove himself as a viable NBA option.
The Penn State grad is nowhere near the volume shooter that his fellow draft pick Julian Strawther is, but Pickett’s shot selection was generally responsible Sunday. He was 3 for 4 from the field and found open teammates when he had them. Defensively, he got caught on a couple of ball screens and committed three fouls by the end of the third quarter, but his effort and energy were high, and his close-outs were mostly solid.
The worry with Denver’s preseason bench is that it doesn’t seem to have many sources of offense other than creating open looks for Strawther. But for now, that’s no biggie as Strawther can do no wrong. He went 9 for 16 in his third preseason game, scoring 25 points.
Injury notes
Christian Braun (calf contusion) and Michael Porter Jr. (sprained ankle) were inactive again, and Adelman said the best-case scenario for both would be to play Thursday in Los Angeles, where the Nuggets wrap up their preseason against the Clippers.
“Mike looked a lot better this morning,” Adelman said. “He was moving a lot better. That ankle sprain was legit. It was fat. … He’s tough. So he’ll go through the ankle, he’ll be fine.”
Murray’s hand seemed to be giving him discomfort Sunday. He played with tape on it and iced it as he went down the tunnel to change out his uniform.
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