Nuggets vs. Timberwolves Preseason Watch: Jamal Murray is coming

The Nuggets wrapped up their 2024 preseason with a 132-126 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday at Target Center to finish 1-4.

Denver's starters played most of the game while Minnesota coach Chris Finch took a break. The Nuggets now have a non-contest week before opening their 2024-25 season against the Thunder on Oct. 24 at Ball Arena.

Better late than never for Jamal Murray

If only one thing mattered in the Nuggets' preseason finale, it was likely that Murray showed signs of life after feeling knee pain while warming up for a game on Sunday and then having to sit out the next game on Tuesday.

Coming to Minnesota, he averaged 5.3 points on 32% shooting this preseason. His usage wasn't high in the three games he played, which had a lot to do with the pedestrian stats, but those numbers were still concerning after his poor performance at the Olympics.

The point guard calmed nerves in Minnesota. The Nuggets apparently placed emphasis on controlling their offense more through him and designing after-timeout sets for him. He delivered 25 points on 5 of 6 outside shooting and scored 3 points off the dribble and the catch. He made it to the foul line eight times, a particularly encouraging sign of willingness to demand physicality. And among his five assists, he managed to sling a beautiful left-handed bounce pass along the baseline around two defenders to Julian Strawther, who took it to the third corner.

Nikola Jokic, cooked by Luka Garza

Michael Malone played against all five starters until the end of the third quarter for the first time this month, making for an amusing conclusion to Jokic's preseason. He seemed mostly content with Minnesota's reserve center Luka Garza getting all the shots he wanted. The former two-way player took advantage of that lax defense with a passionate 29-point performance.

Unlike Murray, Jokic isn't a player anyone is worried about in Denver, which benefited his teammates on Thursday. On offense, he was in a shot-denying position most of the night, a trade-off for the scoring that fell to Murray. Instead, the three-time MVP tinkered more with his tool belt of creative passes and distributed the Nuggets to their best collective shooting game of the preseason.

They shot 55% from the floor and 58% from beyond the arc. Michael Porter Jr. added a 7-for-9 night. Julian Strawther scored 33 points and finished his preseason shooting 50% from 3-point range (26 shots). Even Vlatko Cancar received some rotation minutes in the first half, unlike in recent games, playing the three alongside Jokic and Aaron Gordon. Jokic set up a couple of cancar shots to make it a nine-point, 4-on-5 win.

Russ starts slowly and then saves the Nuggets from a winless preseason

None of these results actually matter, but going 0-5 in the preseason still wouldn't have been an ideal opening scene in the Nuggets' 2024-25 scenario.

“Listen, man, there’s no panic,” Malone said Tuesday at Ball Arena. “There are of course concerns. There are. We have many areas where we can improve. But I know that if we're fully healthy and our guys are playing, I know what this team is capable of and it's my job over the next nine days to help us get there by opening night.”

His team managed to avoid stumbling into opening night without a win, largely thanks to the fourth-quarter performances of Strawther and Russell Westbrook.

Westbrook had four turnovers in his first seven minutes early in the game. But he did all the things he does best in the final stanza while playing with his younger teammates: transition layups, tenacious defense, even a few jumpers. After a 5-for-7 night (13 points, five assists), we can expect Westbrook to start the season as Malone's primary substitute. The coach called Russ one of the Nuggets' six best players this week.