Doug Moe's Motion Offense Is the Archive Denver Should Reread in New Orleans
Denver's best offenses spread the ball across a connected group, and the five players Denver pays most were built to do that again.
The Nuggets visit New Orleans at 1-2, four days after needing 42 points from Jamal Murray to beat the same Pelicans 141-135. The franchise's history says the answer is sharing the ball, and that starts with Cameron Johnson's ankle.
Does the calendar help?
Denver has played six past games on October 28 and won all six. They run from a 119-100 win over Milwaukee in 1976 to a 117-101 win over Utah in 2022, the season that ended with the franchise's first title. A date on the calendar does not make shots. What matters in that history is how those Denver teams scored.
What Moe's teams knew
Under Doug Moe's motion offense, Denver scored 100 points in 136 straight games, an NBA record, and averaged a league-record 126.5 points in 1981-82. The scoring was shared: Alex English and Kiki Vandeweghe each topped 25 a game alongside Dan Issel. That system produced the 139-125 win over Utah on this date in 1983. Saturday's win over New Orleans came from two men, Murray with 42 and Jokic with a 35-point, 15-rebound, 10-assist triple-double. David Decker of Nugg Love wrote that Denver is playing with fire by leaning so heavily on Murray. The franchise's history agrees with him.
The five Denver paid to keep
Denver's five biggest contracts belong to Jokic, Murray, Aaron Gordon, Johnson and Christian Braun, the core of a $217.8 million payroll that sits above the first apron. Together that five outscored opponents by 13.5 points per 100 possessions in 2025-26, though in a small sample. The group has not been whole this week. Johnson's right ankle has kept him on the injury report, and tonight is his projected return date. Jokic and Murray won the 2023 title together. With the Bucks having turned down a potential Kevin Porter Jr. trade, continuity is the one asset Denver already has.
What history warns
Moe's Denver also lost to Detroit 186-184 in triple overtime on December 13, 1983, a game with an NBA-record 370 combined points. Paul Westhead's faster version fell from 46-36 to 20-62. Speed without connection failed, and scoring without stops has a ceiling. Last season's team paired the No. 1 offense with the No. 21 defense. Against a winless Pelicans team coming off three days of rest, with Yves Missi out, the five can start proving it holds up at both ends.
Who were the Nuggets' top scorers under Doug Moe?
Alex English and Kiki Vandeweghe each averaged more than 25 points a game alongside Dan Issel, and English won the NBA scoring title. In 1981-82 that offense averaged a league-record 126.5 points.
Will Cameron Johnson play against the Pelicans on October 28?
Johnson is on the injury report with a right ankle issue, and his projected return date is October 28, the night of the game. His status has not been confirmed beyond that.
