Jamal Murray, Nuggets set for home opener vs. Thunder

For the primary time in 18 months, Jamal Murray is set to go well with up for a Nuggets home sport when Denver performs its home opener towards the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday.

Murray, who tore his left anterior cruciate ligament in April 2021, sat out Denver’s 128-123 win over the Golden State Warriors on Friday in San Francisco as a result of harm administration. The plan was to have him able to oppose the Thunder on the second evening of a back-to-back set.

In the Nuggets’ season-opening loss to the Utah Jazz on Wednesday in Salt Lake City, Murray had 12 factors, two rebounds and two steals in 26 minutes.

“We sat down and talked about how he felt coming out of Utah and he said he felt good,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone stated earlier than the Friday sport. “It’s about listening to his body and where he’s at. I want him to have a voice in this, and the decision is made for right now. We don’t want him playing in both nights of back-to-backs right now.”

Denver would not have one other back-to-back set till late November, and Malone stated he anticipated Murray to have the ability to play on each nights of such conditions later within the season.

“This is a work in progress and it’s going to require patience on everybody’s part,” Malone stated. “I talked to Jamal about that. There will be tough nights for him, but he is our guy.”

Saturday’s sport is only one of six at home within the Nuggets’ first 19 contests.

The Nuggets constructed a 20-point lead towards the Warriors on Friday earlier than the benefit dwindled to at least one within the closing seconds. Denver held on for victory due to a floor-length move by reigning two-time MVP Nikola Jokic to clinch his 77th profession triple-double with the help on Bruce Brown’s dunk.

With his subsequent triple-double, Jokic will tie Wilt Chamberlain for sixth all time.

Denver and Oklahoma City break up their 4 conferences final season. Over the previous 5 seasons, the Nuggets went 14-4 towards the Thunder.

Oklahoma City is coming off a 115-108 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday at Minneapolis in its season opener.

Thunder coach Mark Daigneault began Aleksej Pokusevski at heart and Kenrich Williams at energy ahead, the place Pokusevski was anticipated to start out.

He introduced Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, who began 36 of his 49 video games final season, off the bench.

Daigneault stated he and the crew would proceed to experiment.

“Everything’s on the table,” Daigneault stated. “We don’t want to be confined by what we’ve done or what we see as normal.”

After the Thunder ranked twelfth within the NBA in tempo final season, Daigneault desires his squad to play quicker this season.

“The rule for us is we’ve either gotta be fast or we’ve gotta be organized, but we can’t be slow and unorganized,” Daigneault stated.

After the Saturday sport, the Thunder play 5 of their subsequent six at home.

Oklahoma City shall be with out rookie guard Jalen Williams, who underwent surgical procedure after sustaining a proper orbital bone fracture within the season opener. Williams, the No. 12 choice on this yr’s draft, is because of be re-evaluated in seven to 10 days.

–Field Level Media