Nikola Jokic had 34 points and 15 rebounds last night.
Generally, that would earn anyone an ‘A’ grade for the contest. Nikola loses a grade for two reasons: Defense and assists.
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The Nuggets play team defense. They have to, with Jokic, teams have figured out that the Nuggets rely so heavily on help, it’s beneficial to pull the Serbian big out of the lane. How many times do we see Jokic running out to contest at the three-point line? It’s part of the Nuggets scheme and it’s unfortunate because it makes Jokic, who is a pretty good defender, with solid footwork, look slow. When he gets caught trying to help high, he has trouble collapsing back down to defend the lane. It’s why he looks so lost in the pick-and-roll sometimes.
Nikola’s three assists on Tuesday night can be more than explained by his 34 points. Sometimes you get one or the other, sometimes you get both. The issue with last night is not so much Nikola’s low assist tally, it’s that in an offense designed to flow through him it’s often Jokic that gets Chandler and Murray the open looks that jump-start their offensive games. If Nikola is pushed into an iso game, he can do it, he can score 30 on anyone. It’s just not what’s always best for the Nuggets.
Nobody, this season, has been more attuned to what is needed than The Joker. He knows his game well enough to know how he is needed night-over-night. When he’s pressured into more shots, however, the response looks a lot like last night’s game. He is still a spectacular performer but the Nuggets looked disjointed, out-of-sorts (yes, they did score 141, did we already talk about that?).
It’s past time the Nuggets coaches and players accept that Nikola doesn’t need a lot of input into what best serves his game. He knows and has known all-along.