The Denver Nuggets began their 2024-25 season with a 102-87 loss against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night.
The team shot a rough 35.7% from the field and 18.4% from the three-point (7-for-38).
Reigning MVP Nikola Jokic, who finished with a 16-point, 13-assist, 12-rebound triple-double, had a blunt assessment of the team’s performance.
“We don’t shoot the ball very well. We are not a good shooting team, I think, except (Michael Porter Jr. and Jamal Murray). All of us are kind of streaky, not streaky, but just average shooters,” Jokic said. “We have something else, we can probably be better and have advantages in some other things on the floor.”
Nuggets head coach Michael Malone agreed with his superstar big man, saying after the defeat that “going into the season, shooting was a concern of mine.” Malone specifically pointed to the offseason loss of shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who signed with the Orlando Magic in July, as a difficult blow.
Denver shot 49.6% from the floor last season (fourth in the NBA) and 37.4% on three-pointers (10th).
Murray led the team with his 42.5% success rate on shots from deep, while KCP was second (40.6%).
Murray (2-for-5) and Porter Jr. (3-for-10) combined to go 5-for-15 from beyond the arc on Thursday night, while the rest of the team went 2-for-23.