ESPN react to James Murray shines with 35 Pts Nuggets beat Bucks in Doc Rivers’s coaching debut

ESPN react to James Murray shines with 35 Pts Nuggets beat Bucks in Doc Rivers’s coaching debut

Tim going there that Jamal Murray interview took less time than Ian’s free throw by like 3 seconds interesting yeah I can’t believe they finally called it by the way that was a shock I was like okay they’re never going to hey the Nuggets they know when to play defense

First quarter no defense but when they needed to pick it up they did tonight really to me it was that third quarter they held Milwaukee to 19 points six of 177 one for eight on threes but forced eight turnovers and the Nuggets DM when the Nuggets hold opponents under 110

They’re now 21 and two and doing it to a great offensive team like Milwaukee that’s really good it is really good and and here’s what I really want to give some flowers to the bench we’re going to look at bench points and they’re going to say oh they got outscored 22 to 20

But when defensively the bench players really did come through and I’m talking in specific about pton Watson I’m going to guess that if you look at the plus minus for the bench players they’ll mostly all be in the pluses because they played really well on that end and then

Overall as a team Vic you’re talking about staying the course offensively you know one of the problems Milwaukee had defensively was they just over the course of a game just kind of caved in the Nuggets really kept grinding and got to their spots got to the Win It Ain’t

Easy defending an NBA title you take on all dempy fellas um what a novel concept all the Stars playing a game and this is what you get you get entertained it was was very entertaining it looked like you know Doc Rivers first game Milwaukee came out Gang Busters had the Nuggets

Down 13 timeout Malone gradually they worked their way back in a lot because of Jamal but once the Nuggets kind of got ahead wow did they just they just kept the pressure continually on Milwaukee and came away with a W yeah I think um um defensively uh especially in

That second half they just kind of got better over the course of the game they uh they understood what Milwaukee was was trying to do and it wasn’t intricate you know from the Bucks I mean it couldn’t be intricate with Doc Rivers just coaching his first game um a lot of

Simple actions that you see um from night to night in this league but just done with very high level players Damen Lillard and um Giannis and and and the like uh but once you start getting that sorted out once you start getting intensity uh and hustle on the defensive

End uh you can shut a lot of that down and they were able to do that in that second half hey man final score says it all the stats stay at all the Jamal Murray wins the battle point guards tonight that is the future you have

Wining the point he was wrong yeah he was wrong again I didn’t have I didn’t have anybody living to Jamal with 35 points guys look at Jamal at the free throw line today 10 free throws yeah for him he was just great and with that 35 I

Don’t think he scored in the third quarter so it was one and he wasn’t detoured I mean you’re talking about a Milwaukee Bucks team that you know has really great defensive players in the post I mean Brook Lopez is constantly among the best shot blockers in the

League and obviously Giannis has been a two-time defensive player of the year and so when you get into the paint and those individuals are there what are you going to do and Jamal was not deterred he was able to find his spots knock those shots in and so just really really

Well done I don’t know what it is about the Milwaukee Bucks but they bring triple doubles out of Nicole yic his sixth triple double against the yeah and I mean I I I think from a two-point standpoint he was nine of 19 so that’s not too bad um you know the

Three-pointers you missed three-pointers and it kind of makes that field goal percentage look um not as great but uh we know what nicoa yic means to this basketball team and and he had his fingerprints all over this game I mean there was a point in I think the third

Quarter where H is just says he’s soaking in all the rebounds and he was um you know just whatever you need from him um he is able to provide you know what’s crazy about this game tonight uh the Milwaukee Bucks had 16 three-pointers to the Nuggets four they won the three-point 36o

Difference in three-point shots and yet the Nuggets win the game because they found different ways to score and the Twan game which we see so often down the stretch when it’s close got a little wrinkle tonight we saw Michael Porter Jr do something when things bogg down

Junior has done that a couple times this year I love that play uh I don’t really see anybody else in the NBA really do that um and and it’s I think it’s really smart and cool yeah you know what was neat it was against yanas yeah I mean

Yanas hey we got to stop Joker we’re going to DB up he Brooke can’t handle him out here I’ll get I’ll I’ll get over and wall him off a little bit uhuh and just dive straight to the rim and then nobody’s there take a look at our

Fanatic Sports Wagers of the night the Nuggets came in as favorites in this game and uh favorites they are they win by what was the final score 113 107 they they won by five F and the four one by six didn’t they yep oh you’re right six

Yeah don’t a i your map mine both of this is still Notre Dame map it’s some of us had Jamal muray winning the point thing I dropped stats twice it was not Chris St did you ever take stats no I dropped it twice for that

Reason did you yeah I had a lot of calculus though five years that’s why I can’t do analytics man I can’t with this Notre Dame math over here final final score when this team puts together the type of defense that it can least have some matchups what does that mean to you

What what did you see tonight defensively that make this team great in these sou matchups well I felt to start the game we weren’t quite ready and I have to give our bench a lot of credit I felt that first quarter we went to our bench I thought they were terrific kind

Of they brought the energy and then when I put our starters back in I thought they played at the level that was necessary considering who we were playing um and I think it always starts there Matt you know the energy and effort the discipline um I’ll give you

Some numbers that kind of illustrate how effective our defense was tonight on the season that team averages is 50 from the field they shot 42 tonight on the season that team averaged 124 points they scored 107 tonight and I think most telling that team lives in the paint

They average 50 in the paint they had 26 tonight those are great numbers we took care of the ball 29 assists only eight turnovers did not fuel their break and uh we did it for the most part we did a pretty good job of Defending without

Fouling um so I think our guys were locked in to the game plan to their personnel um they present a lot of matchup Problems by I felt that guys were flying around even when it wasn’t perfect you have to have that scramble mentality and you know the job that you

Know Aaron did on Giannis pton did on Giannis aon’s block late on Dame was a big big block uh Nicole’s activity I mean he had tonight uh 15 defensive rebounds two blocks and three steals uh and then the job that kcp did on Dame I

Mean so we had a lot of guys step up on that end of the floor but complete buyin uh and a lot of commitment and discipline on a I like tonight where Milwaukee also had a pretty good defensive game just what allowed you guys to separate on the other end well

The funny thing is you know not many times when you look at a box score one team makes 16 threes other team makes four is a team with four going to win so obviously you know we dominated the paint 5626 um you know but it was just uh late

In the game going back to our patented two-man game you I mean getting getting the matchups that we wanted let Nia and Jamal play in space and everybody else kind of reading off of it and uh that was um reminds you of what we’ve done time and time again over these last

Eight seasons with those two guys playing together with Payton Watson you know that defense and athleticism obvious obviously pops but nights like tonight it seemed like the discipline and execution and understanding the mental part of Defense where do you see the growth on him and tonight did you

You know did that stand out to you yeah I mean like he had like we showed a clip at halftime of you know Giannis is such a good player he’s gonna drive left he’s gonna spin he’s gonna shop fake he’s going to step through and he generates a

Lot of fouls that way and Payton was really committed and uh disciplined uh in in terms of staying down being the second man off the floor and if he makes a tough shot make it a tough contested too where you’re not bailing him out with a silly foul I grabbed him late we

Had a play where Nia tried to get him to LW pass they broke it up then as we came up the court he committed a foul in transition and I said what a great learning opportunity in those situations they’re in the bonus you can’t put a guy

In the fatl line in that situation so all these late game situations you know with Aaron getting in foul trouble Payton going out there and making plays for us these are just tremendous opportunities and growth opportunities for him is that a luxury that’ll continue to grow like you talked about

That you can lose in Aaron Gordon B Watson can come in there there’s not a huge drop off yeah I mean and again Scott I I think overall Reggie uh you know Christian didn’t score tonight but I loved his activity his defense the six rebounds like everybody CB’s got to

Score more no CB’s got to be aggressive he’s got to make winning plays and I thought he did that tonight uh Payton obviously his impact and even deandre’s impact but yeah when uh Aaron Gordon gets his fifth foul and I’m saying okay there’s around four and a half five to

Go do I ride him do I get him out and then Payton goes out there and plays really well and we kind of build on the lead so yes a luxury and what’s exciting for everybody in this room is what Payton wats is only going to get better

But that the potential is is unlimited there so uh really you know again we have one game left in this 10 game stretch that we talked about I think think we’re seven- two now going on the road to play a very good team in OKC uh

That is up on us two to one in the head-to-head matchup so very very proud of our group for playing the way we’ve played and closing out games we have the number one clutch defense in the NBA through 4748 games and I thought you saw some great examples of that tonight as

Well were you surprised neis got a shot clock violation on a free throw uh no no I mean it’s uh 10 seconds so uh I was you know really happy that dedri you know made that call and then after that the fans got into it and they started

Giving you know the the whole Arena was chanting the uh the 10 seconds but you know what what what a game between two really good basketball teams so uh now we just got to turn the page and get ready for OKC you didn’t want to talk about it before the but congratulations

When number 400 you get me a signed ball Katie are we are we going to keep that tradition yes we are um what does it mean to you and now I guess you’re chasing you know Doug Mo in the rafters yeah I mean it me that I’ve been here a

Long time you know nine years and so when I think of 400 wins with the Denver Nuggets I think of uh Stan and Josh KY you know believing in me and more importantly continuing to believe in me to be the leader of this team to be the

Head coach of this team uh and that happened long before won a championship so that belief is just so it empowers you to do your job knowing that you have the confidence from your ownership group uh it speaks to tremendous players I mean how lucky am I to be a coach that

Gets a coach Nicole yic Jamal Murray Michael Porter kcp Aaron Gordon and not just the guys that are here right now but all along the way I mean like we were in Philly I saw jir Nelson like Malik Beasley tonight there’s so many guys that have been a part of this and

The last thing I would say is tremendous coaching staff you know from year one to year nine guys that have uh really really challenged me to be a better head coach and um you know that that’s how you get to 400 wins you have belief from your front office Calvin Booth Tim your

Ownership tremendous coaching staff and more importantly great freaking players and uh I’m really really blessed and fortunate in that regard one question you saw pton Watson tonight at shooting guard for a tiny stint then you also saw him you know replace Aaron Gordon obviously out of necessity what do you

See from him in that two very different roles and and is he grown in the versatility of the role he can take on well that’s what I think it is for him Adam I think you know he is just a Swiss army knife you know we’re going to put

Him on Giannis we’re going to put him on Dame Lillard every night he’s going to guard somebody different because we feel he can impact that matchup defensively at a positive level and uh you know offensively the way we play really positionist type of basketball so he’s

Just got to be in the right space move without it uh make himself available and uh defensively be disciplined and just go out there and you know try to lock people up and do it to the best of your ability so you know really proud of uh Payton’s continued

Development all right thanks everybody that Michael Malone press conference took less time than aan fre throw but who’s counting uh that’s impressive 400 wins welcome to the 400 Club there’s three of them now for the nuggets in this franchise of course Doug Mo the great Doug Mo has the most won’t be long

Before Malone catches him George Carl second most and now he’ll catch George yeah well he’s going to catch both of them um I don’t know how many games are left this season but he’s going to definitely catch them yeah yeah but by the end of next season he’ll have all

The all the uh all the records and um and he should uh he’s the best coach in the team’s history uh he is the only coach with the championship in teams history and he has done so um you know if anybody remembers what he took over

Here when Michael Malone got here um it was tough sleding let’s just put it that way and uh you know to establish a culture uh to be able to to win more and more and more and more to take the setback of your one of your star players

Not playing an entire season and have to kind of rebuild that back and then to win a title and now on the repeat Trail um H has been it’s been spectacular hey man there’s a reason this place has been sold out now 23 straight times he’s a

Big reason our breaks plus top of the game and this was big because the Nuggets were only up by five late Aaron Gordon at five fouls look what he does he erases Damen Lillard on the backboard and that safe to not only that it went

Off L out of bounds AG smiling away but let him go by get him from the backside no foul all ball nuggets ball critical play in in that juncture of the game too right I mean Milwaukee continue to to press to try to get themselves back in

To uh you know to maybe steal the game and so you need to make all those plays Aaron Gordon made one and and you know he he blocked that shot and then a couple possessions prior to that with five fouls he stops he stays down he

Stops Giannis in the paint had like a eight foot jump hook and he couldn’t put it in the Nuggets got the rebound and basically game over when we come back For spee fore for Foree fore Speee foree speech spech foree speech you an ally has been defeated En show me your pain En an enemy has deated eny shall we aen you will be mine forever the for Tower spe spee foreign for fore foree spee foreign speee fore spee For spee spee spee speech for speee for spee spee onlye for Spee food we got for spee speech foreign speech foree spee fore

ESPN react to James Murray shines with 35 Pts Nuggets beat Bucks in Doc Rivers’s coaching debut