Jamal Murray Defends Nikola Jokic After Poor Game 3 Performance

It was a costly time to have their worst offensive game of the season, but the Denver Nuggets will bounce back. In Thursday's Game 3 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Nuggets scored just 96 points while shooting a season-low 34% from the field and 25% from three-point range.

The Nuggets got out-rebounded by 13, out-assisted by 19, and out-scored by 17. It was an abysmal performance all around for the Nuggets, but especially for three-time MVP Nikola Jokic. Jokic finished with a fine stat line on the surface, dropping 27 points and 15 rebounds, but he had three assists with four turnovers, and shot just 7-26 (27%) from the field and 2-10 (20%) from beyond the arc.

After the game, All-Star guard Jamal Murray defended Jokic by saying this poor performance was an "outlier," and he was simply missing shots he normally makes.

"I thought the shots he took today, it wasn't like he doesn't make those every day of his life," Murray said. "So I've never seen him shoot what he shot today. That's just kind of an outlier type of game. Really from everybody. But we're not worried about [Jokic]."

Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert has done an incredible job defending Jokic this series, and it showed on Thursday night. Jokic really struggled to get the shots he wanted, and even when he had open looks, they were not falling.

Should we worry about Jokic?

While Murray said they are not worried about Jokic, and granted, the three-time MVP has proven time and time again why we should not worry about him, it is hard not to.

So far this series, Jokic is averaging 25.3 points, 14.3 rebounds, 7.3 assists, and 4.0 turnovers through three games, while inefficiently shooting 40.0% from the field and 20.8% from three-point range. Jokic has always been consistently and efficiently dominant, so when he is having off nights and struggling to shoot the ball, there are obvious reasons to be concerned.

The Nuggets' offense, which finished as the best in the NBA throughout the regular season, has been completely swallowed by the Timberwolves' defense. Gobert and Jaden McDaniels deserve all the credit in the world for their jobs on Jokic and Murray, but at a certain point, the best duo in the NBA should prevail.

Rudy Gobert is holding Nikola Jokic to 40% FG as the primary defender this series 🔒 pic.twitter.com/p3H1Cp8lyA
— Real App (@realapp) April 24, 2026

Heading into a pivotal Game 4 in Minnesota, looking to avoid falling behind 3-1 in the series, the Nuggets desperately need the MVP version of Jokic we are used to seeing. Jokic has lost in the first round of the playoffs just once in his 11-year career, and this Nuggets team has too high expectations to get knocked out this early.

In Game 3, though, it was not just Jokic who struggled. Even Murray finished with 16 points and four assists on just 5-17 shooting from the field and 0-5 from deep. It is very rare for both Nuggets stars to struggle to that extent, so putting that performance behind them to bounce back for Game 4 is the priority.

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