Jamal Murray is off to hot start he envisioned, and Nuggets have exorcised Minnesota demon

MINNEAPOLIS Jamal Murray could have been charitable to chicken lovers like Boban Marjanovic before him Maybe for another fan base But this was a rivalry championship A number of NBA teams including the Timberwolves participate in a Chick-fil-A promotion designed to incentivize home crowds to be loud and distracting when opponents shoot free throws The prize free chicken sandwiches if a visiting participant goes for in the fourth quarter Murray had already punctured the atmosphere inside Target Center by the time he stepped to the foul line late Monday night But after a rare miss on his first attempt the volume briefly doubled Minnesotans sensing a silver lining at the end of a loss I realized it Murray noted afterward giggling Marjanovic even crossed his mind briefly the -foot- center once played to the crowd and intentionally clanked the second free throw to give Clippers fans what they demanded But Minnesota with or without its unapologetically smug superstar has been the Nuggets kryptonite for more than a year So Murray decided he had one more silencer in him instead He calmly knocked down the second free throw then finger-wagged Wolves fans Mutombo style That was final punctuation on a -point performance from Murray who willed Denver to a - road win and has averaged points per challenge in the first week of the season The Nuggets won his minutes by on Monday They lost the minutes without him by I wasn t forcing it Everybody played great he reported I just made shots I just thought everybody was in the right spot and setting good screens Everybody was into the meeting in the second half especially That makes my job easy This was a championship the Nuggets were supposed to win with cold-blooded scorer and certified Murray disruptor Anthony Edwards out due to a hamstring injury His absence didn t make it any easier though because nothing s ever easy when the Nuggets face their division nemesis They entered Monday s matchup having lost six consecutive meaningful games to the Wolves dating back to Challenge of the second-round playoff series and including heartbreakers such as the -point Encounter collapse and the Russell Westbrook double-overtime fiasco last season Not to mention preseason and Summer League losses this year The Nuggets went into halftime down - in what seemed to be evolving into another bitter head-to-head disappointment It s been heavily dominated by them coach David Adelman declared before tip We have to take that personally and play better Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray works toward the basket as Minnesota Timberwolves guard Bones Hyland defends during the second half of an NBA basketball battle Monday Oct in Minneapolis AP Photo Abbie Parr Murray is a master of taking things personally After leading a balanced Nuggets win with points in their home opener he acknowledged feeling bothered by the noise about his slow-starter reputation That s why I want to come out and just have a good November October he declared The trend surrounding Denver and Minnesota was similarly effective fuel He and Tim Hardaway Jr traded buckets for an entire quarter combining for points and engineering a -point swing Denver scored on of possessions in the frame They have great defenders They have a lot of size They have a lot of guys that can switch Murray explained They re strong They re competitive They have a great home crowd So I think we just kind of used it to bring our own vitality in the second half Murray scored in the third quarter alone riding a -for- surge that started with a pair of shot clock buzzer-beaters both of them downright unfair to Minnesota s defenders a step-back over Rudy Gobert s gargantuan wingspan then a pull-up -pointer with Mike Conley s hand in his face I ve been on the other side of the basketball playing against him for countless years Hardaway reported I know what he s capable of doing You get a lot of open looks playing off him I ll tell you that It was fitting that Murray and Hardaway ignited simultaneously Back at training camp Murray made an observation that he exposed fascinating about the difference between their shooting routines opposite means to what they hope are similar ends Whereas the -year-old veteran prefers a highly regimented consistent workout with a heavy diet of catch-and-shoot s to get in rhythm Murray finds what works best for him is to intentionally avoid a natural cadence His training sessions can be jagged unpredictable and characterized by syncopation He doesn t perpetually know where his dribble will take him Sometimes he ll bring the ball from one end of the floor to the other between shots just to fight against the muscle memory of the last attempt It s how he makes the shots seemingly only he can make I m shooting off the dribble stepping back fading way one-legged crap so I ve gotta be able to find my rhythm without having to be in rhythm Murray elaborated on Monday Whereas when Hardaway is in rhythm crap like that happens where he s just knocking down shots and it s hard to leave him and stuff like that So I think it s just part of our roles I like to try to play my way into the rhythm because you re not consistently gonna have it So if you constantly just practice shooting in rhythm off the catch OK great You can make in a row but what happens when you walk down the court and walk back You ve gotta be able to keep that or find it or have particular sort of a base Related Articles Nuggets Cam Johnson doesn t finish Minnesota competition with shoulder injury Jamal Murray on Michael Jordan making NBC broadcast appearances Cool to hear his opinion Peyton Watson desired to sign contract extension with Nuggets but now he can set his domain in restricted free agency Nuggets Journal My Denver media brethren and I lost by to Nuggets coaches in pickup championship Ball Arena ups its food encounter for - Nuggets Avs seasons with Redeemer Pizza Nola Jane In a sample size small enough to heed extreme caution the Nuggets led the Western Conference in offensive rating by almost three points entering Tuesday s slate Murray s blend of assertiveness and steadiness of style and substance has been a defining trait behind that start He s also averaging five boards and six assists numbers that have simultaneously impacted winning and stirred early visions of a long-awaited All-Star run His coach is unsurprisingly far more concerned with the former How various All-Stars haven t won championships Adelman declared How various All-Stars don t have a triple-double in the Finals Yeah he doesn t go to the glorified pickup match but the guy is a champion and one of the best players of this generation