Julian Strawther took his seat on the bench Monday night not knowing whether he would have an opportunity to play more minutes than usual, with Jamal Murray injured.
The rookie definitely didn’t expect he’d be strutting along the sideline after a heat-check 3-pointer in the middle of a stirring comeback that he helped ignite.
“Obviously you know that there are minutes up for grabs, but you don’t know where they’re gonna go,” Strawther said after scoring 21 points across 19 minutes in a 134-116 Nuggets win. “That was not something that was communicated to me pregame.”
Once the Nuggets were trailing by double digits in the second quarter, sorely missing Murray, it made sense to have an extra shooter on the floor who could at least give Denver a chance to match the Pelicans’ lineup of flamethrowers.