Jamal Murray Wants to See Nuggets be More Aggressive on the Glass

On Monday, the Denver Nuggets fell to the Golden State Warriors 134-114 at home. It was a game where the Warriors looked hungry to get a win following a tough 0-3 start, and they were helped by a 31-point effort from rookie forward Yaxel Lendeborg. 

In this game, the Warriors out-rebounded the Nuggets 45-32 and played with a lot of intensity. After the game, Nuggets guard Jamal Murray talked about the struggles that his team faced on the boards and how they need to help star center Nikola Jokic more on that front. 

"It's just an awareness thing," Murray said. "That team was playing very hard to get a win, so I think that played a factor into being more physical and playing faster." 

There were multiple times when Yaxel Lendeborg came away with big rebounds, and on the other end, he was able to get downhill and knock down tough shots in the paint. It's clear that opposing teams are going to have to match his energy when going against him, and the Nuggets didn't do that. 

Moving forward, the Nuggets are going to need to play with more energy and aggressiveness if they want to get back to where they once were: championship contenders. 

This is a team that looks a step slower than in previous years, and part of that may be because of the lack of emergence from any of their young players. Denver has seen rookie forward Trevon Brazile get off to a solid start, averaging 9 points per game and 7.3 rebounds, but it has not moved the needle for this team. 

Another player off to a slow start is guard Christian Braun. Braun is currently averaging 10.3 points per game, along with 6 rebounds and 1.7 assists. While he's shooting 46.7 percent from the field, his three-point percentage is a very low 15.4 percent. 

If Denver wants to go on a run or see any kind of improvement, the overall energy of this team is going to have to increase. This is a team led by a lot of veterans, which can help in high-pressure moments, but they will need to step up their overall level of play.  

Their next game is on the road against the winless New Orleans Pelicans. That could be a game where this team can find a rhythm and clean things up to set themselves up to stack wins as the season progresses.