Baffling Nikola Jokic series getting harder for even Nuggets fans to explain

What is going on with Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets? For the third straight game, the Timberwolves looked like the fresher, hungrier, and better team, as they pulled away to beat Denver, 112-96, to take a commanding 3-1 lead in their first-round series.

We’ve seen the Nuggets in some adverse situations before, but this time it feels different. And the biggest reason it feels that way is the inexplicably poor play from Jokic. For the third straight game, he just didn’t look like himself, scoring 24 points on 8-22 shooting with 4 turnovers and a -12 net rating. Even more disturbing, with the game in the balance, Jokic went 0-6 and scored 0 points in the fourth quarter.

For Jokic, those numbers are borderline disastrous, and it has now happened three times in a row, in the three biggest games of the season. It’s not crazy for the Joker to have an off-night. Two in a row is certainly bizarre, but not impossible. But three in a row?! This is downright apocalyptic.

Jokic getting dominated by Gobert

We’ve never seen this from Jokic, and the eye test looks worse than the numbers. He looks lost out there, almost defeated, and the body language has not been good. For the first time in his career, he’s getting completely outclassed by the opposing center. Rudy Gobert has had the series of a lifetime, and the way he is defending Jokic one-on-one has been unbelievable.

Joker has always had the answer for everyone, but in these last few games, he can’t seem to solve Rudy. His three-point shot has completely abandoned him. He went 0-3 in game 4, and he’s now 5-27 for the series. The Wolves have stopped respecting it, and Joker is barely even looking at the rim from outside.

The result is a clogged paint, and Gobert getting to sit back and meet Jokic in the paint. He’s deterring and contesting his floaters and midrange shots, and forcing him to work hard for everything, in a way that we’re just not used to seeing.

Injuries have to be part of the problem

I don’t want to take away credit from Rudy, but come on. There has to be something more at play. Jokic hasn’t been the same since coming back from his knee injury, and we’ve been hearing about a nagging wrist injury for months. 

It seems like it’s all getting to him, as he can’t seem to make a shot, he’s wearing down at the end of games, and he’s been a total sieve on the defensive end. A lot of it is the defense of the Wolves, for sure, but there’s no way that Gobert suddenly figured Jokic out after a decade and is causing him to have one of the worst three-game stretches of his career. The injuries are definitely playing a factor.

Can Jokic still save the Nuggets?

We’ve seen the Nuggets come back from down 3-1 before, but again, this feels different. Betting against Jokic would be crazy, but it would be a stark turnaround to see him go from these performances in games 2-4 to suddenly leading Denver to three straight victories.

The Wolves did lose Donte DiVincenzo and Anthony Edwards to a pair of gruesome injuries in this one, so the Wolves will be compromised going forward, but it’s still hard to see this lifeless Nuggets team rallying with their superstar looking nothing like himself.

A good encapsulation of where Jokic is at mentally was seeing him go after Jaden McDaniels in the final seconds of the blowout after a made layup, which led to an altercation and an ejection. Jokic is beyond frustrated, and his poor play and the Wolves' defense are clearly in his head. If anyone can turn this around, it’s Jokic, but this may be the tallest mountain that he’s ever had to climb.

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