The Nuggets took care of business as Jamal Murray returned from an injury absence that spanned over two weeks.
The Denver Nuggets thoroughly embarrassed the visiting Atlanta Hawks on Saturday night. Fueled by Jamal Murray‘s return from injury, the Nuggets handily beat the Hawks, 142-110, recording their most points in a game this season in the process.
Jamal Murray’s injury return fuels the fire
Jamal Murray has been battling injuries on and off throughout the season. Most recently, Murray missed seven consecutive games while nursing a knee injury. During Murray’s absence, the Nuggets were able to win games, but they also lost a few crucial ones against the Minnesota Timberwolves and Phoenix Suns as well. In the losses, the Nuggets seriously missed Murray’s playmaking and clutch scoring. And in the wins, the Nuggets just didn’t look nearly as dominant as they had been with Murray in the starting lineup.
Man is it ever nice to have Jamal Murray hitting three-pointers out of Rip DHO sets pic.twitter.com/iMmhh4gyAr
— Matt Brooks (@MattBrooksNBA) April 7, 2024
In his return, Murray played a limited amount of minutes. But in his 20 minutes, he scored 16 points, had six assists, three rebounds, and shot 2-for-4 from three-point range. While the Nuggets were clearly thankful to have Murray back, it didn’t take long for the Hawks to notice his impact as well.
“He’s a tremendous player. Him and Jokic are the best duo in the league and it’s tough to guard them,” Hawks guard Bogdan Bogdanovic said via ESPN. “When Jokic needs to find a guy to score, he’s got Murray and that’s basically it.”
While it good to see Murray back, the Nuggets still plan on easing him back into the lineup with a minutes restriction. Malone still insists the team is more focused on its health rather than playoff seeding. However with this win, the Nuggets moved a half-game ahead of the Timberwolves for first place in the Western Conference.
While Jamal Murray looked good in his return and Nikola Jokic casually recorded another triple-double, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope also found some success. Caldwell-Pope wound up leading the Nuggets in scoring with 24 points. He was also remarkably efficient from three-point range, going 6-for-9 (66.7%.)
For the past few games, the Nuggets had struggled a bit knocking down their three-point shots. However, against the Hawks, the Nuggets seriously improved their three-point shooting and shot 56.1%.
“When we struggled a few games since the All-Star break at making shots, it wasn’t like we were getting bad looks,” Nuggets head coach Michael Malone said via The Denver Post’s Bennett Durando. “We just were not making open and wide-open looks. And I think (Caldwell-Pope) is getting tremendous looks from his teammates. And he’s just stepping in, shooting it with great confidence. He’s one of the best shooters in the league.”
We see you, KCP pic.twitter.com/yQKDOhpc48
— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) April 7, 2024
Like Murray, Caldwell-Pope has battled injuries on and off through the entirety of the season. With only four games left in the Nuggets’ regular season, it seems KCP is getting hot at just at the right time. In fact, his recent performances have caught the eyes of his teammates.
“He’s shooting with confidence,” said Jamal Murray. “He had a little slump — I don’t want to say slump — but he wasn’t shooting the way he shoots for a couple games, and I think everybody in the world goes through that. I think he found it the last couple games, and he’s just been shooting into a big basket ever since then.”
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