The NBA playoffs continued, and today the Timberwolves sat at home to face the Nuggets, and finally they defeated the Nuggets 115-70, winning by 45 points at home, and Murray's performance on the Nuggets side of the game was extremely sluggish, scoring only 10 points on 4-of-18 shooting. Murray's poor play today was one of the reasons why the Nuggets couldn't win.
In fact, Murray had a very low shooting percentage on several occasions against the Timberwolves in this round, and he also shot 3-of-18 shooting in the second game of the series. He scored just eight points in that game and shot an incomprehensible percentage in two straight games in the series, which is enough to show that the Timberwolves have been very successful in defending Murray. And today, the Timberwolves' defensive approach is to pinch Jokic, which actually gives Murray some room to shoot, but he still can't perform well. This is even more indicative of the Timberwolves' excellent perimeter defense.
In the last round against the Lakers, Murray hit the winning shot in two consecutive games. In the game with the Timberwolves, Murray was incarnated as a blacksmith, and the two rounds formed a direct contrast. In fact, through comparison, we can clearly understand why the Lakers couldn't beat the Nuggets in the last round of the series. Why they can't beat the Nuggets with James and Davis. It comes down to because they don't have great defense on the outside.
You'll find that Murray is playing with a lot of confidence against both Russell and Reaves, who in his opinion simply can't limit him. So when he played to the last moment, he came easily, and naturally hit those two killer shots. And in the confrontation with the Timberwolves, Murray was completely lost, because the Timberwolves had too many players on the outside. McDaniels and Alexander Walker are both very tough defenders, so Murray has been seriously uncomfortable with the attrition of the two of them throughout the game, let alone hitting a last-minute kill. Even the Nuggets didn't get a chance to play to the last minute.
So the Lakers know how they lost, and they should also have a clear understanding of how their team should strengthen next. That is, they have to build their defense in the backfield position. Russell and Reaves are two people who play the starting backcourt, and facing many of the league's star point guards is basically a giveaway. They have to build a strong defence at the back. This is actually the reason why the Lakers have performed poorly in the regular season this year, and they have been refusing to send one of Russell and Reaves away, which is the main reason for their failure this year.