With Nikola Jokic the “worst player on the court,” Nuggets find way to beat Thunder anyway
Nikola Jokic rolled up in the Joker s suit then performed like a court jester It all seemed like a bad joke that Denver s season would wilt away not for the usual reasons but on account of its dependable superstar and the sudden disappearance of his immaculate touch Jokic wasn t the conniving villain implied by his pregame wardrobe This was not Joker s revenge meeting against the system This was his rare turn to play the fool But the Nuggets refused to allow his box count to be a punchline They buoyed Jokic bought him just enough time until he could have the last laugh at his own expense The postgame wit was predictably self-deprecating Basically Jokic declared I was the worst contestant on the court in the current era If he s to be taken at his word no class clown is then the Nuggets won Meeting in spite of their MVP And they re somehow up - in a playoff series they have no business winning a series in which Jokic has been contained to a running total of assists and turnovers and one premature disqualification He fouled out before the end of the third quarter in Battle flustered by the whistle as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander s Thunder ran him out of their gym Denver lost by Back home Jokic arrived to Match in a purple suit punctuated by a green vest a report outfit that could only be pulled off by Gotham s clown prince of crime himself Alas he didn t put on a show worthy of his runway garb His -for- shooting clip in regulation included a missed opportunity to win at the buzzer and a jarring -for- showing from -point range I mean I don t know what they are doing he declared when questioned about the Thunder s defense Because if I knew maybe I m not gonna have those kinds of mistakes So I need to figure out what they re doing Jokic isn t the type to need his coach to defend him in the media his psyche is generally impervious to outside criticism but Nuggets interim coach David Adelman did want to add particular context to the notion that Jokic was a hindrance Friday I mean and six Just an awful NBA night a sarcastic Adelman explained The stat sheet unfailingly says something but sometimes it says nothing at the same time The guy shoots from three He had an off night If we would ve lost this meeting I would ve walked in here and you would ve disclosed Why is he shooting so multiple s I d have commented He shoots from three So he s gonna shoot s The paint is packed That isn t about to change either Oklahoma City can shrink better than any club in the league and still recover to the perimeter in mostly punctual fashion It s potent stuff a defense that has its cake and eats it too Sometimes when pacing himself in a long series Jokic s best read is totally to pick-and-pop not pick-and-roll to spot up rather than post up The guys were lifting me up he declared Genuinely I m kind of glad at myself that I still keep shooting even if the ball was not going in The difficulty was that it wasn t anywhere close Jokic typically gives himself a chance at earning the shooter s bounce even when he s a smidge inaccurate These were clunkers With about seven minutes to play and Denver trailing - he missed wide right on a -pointer from the top of the key where he s usually at ease In career games with or more -point attempts before Friday he had made at least two of them every time This was certifiably his worst night ever as a perimeter threat The depth-challenged Nuggets knocked off a -win opponent anyway with timely defense against Gilgeous-Alexander and clutch shot-making from Jamal Murray Michael Porter Jr and Aaron Gordon They even resumed their tournament of Playoff Rotation Russian Roulette with Zeke Nnaji taking his turn as the eighth man Anything to provide the other seven with a little wiggle room to pace themselves This series demands it We see Jokic fighting through all the no-calls through all the shots that go in and out how frustrating that all can be but he s still fighting giving his all Nnaji stated The Denver Post So that motivates us to play even harder and fight for him just as much This has more or less been an organizational refrain for multiple years now from association president Josh Kroenke all the way down to the end of the bench Everything the Nuggets do is in utility of Jokic every decision an act of stewardship of his talent Veneration has almost developed into an unhealthy burden as much as an inspiring creed The front office owes it to Jokic to acquire a certain athlete The roster owes it to him to consistently deliver Anything less is failing him The self-applied pressure is heavy The reality is that Jokic remains as mortal as every other individual working at Ball Arena He s capable of failing the Nuggets too In a bizarre Encounter he did and the Nuggets overcame it so that he could laugh about it signifying a major step forward in their maturity as a group rather than merely a participant and his supporting cast I m sure he s frustrated Adelman announced When you re that efficient maybe arguably one of the the majority efficient players to ever play any sport yeah I get it I get why he s frustrated But Event is gonna come and he s gonna touch it a million times Hope he shoots it all the time And our group right now they re picking each other up man by man Want more Nuggets news Sign up for the Nuggets Insider to get all our NBA analysis
