The Denver Nuggets struggled mightily on the offensive end in the season opener against the vaunted Oklahoma City Thunder, scoring just 87 points in a blowout loss. Nikola Jokic was pretty good, and Christian Braun actually had a really solid scoring performance in his starting lineup debut.

However, the Nuggets as a whole struggled to score and especially struggled with outside shooting, going 7-of-39 from three as a team. Zero players in the Nuggets rotation shot above 33% from beyond the arc, so the problems were widespread, rather than contained in just one or two poor shooting performances.

What can Nuggets fans make of this debut?

On the latest episode of Pickaxe and Roll, Ryan Blackburn recaps the Denver Nuggets 102-87 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder that wasn’t that close. Nikola Jokic played well, and Christian Braun had a solid starting lineup debut, but that was it for Nuggets that played well. Why were the Thunder in another class as a team? How concerning is it for the Nuggets future? What to make of Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. struggling? Ryan delves into it.

Pickaxe and Roll is a Nuggets podcast streamed live on YouTube every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday at 10am MT. You can catch episodes live by subscribing to the Mile High Sports YouTube channel and turning on Bell Notifications.

If you can’t catch Pickaxe and Roll live, listen to the audio version on the BLEAV Podcast Network, or download this podcast episode wherever you get podcasts.