It's no secret Nikola Jokic isn't playing his best basketball. There are reports that he's hurt his right wrist, causing him discomfort that led to the recent uptick in turnovers and "poor play." However, ESPN's headline for their video claiming Jokic is playing through an injury so he's still eligible for postseason awards is laughable.
"Is Nikola Jokic playing injured so he’s eligible for awards?" What's funny is that he was just interviewed about the topic of winning a championship, and he said that's his goal. Not an MVP. He's not about the individual award. He never really has been.
Why would it all of a sudden change? Jokic selfishly plays through an injury and risks further harm only to win an award he doesn't really care about? No, that's probably not likely.
According to Bennett Durando, Jokic has played with "occasional wrist pain that has nagged him for about six years." He's won three MVP awards and has only been improving each season over that time period. So if this were serious, he'd probably be sitting out for the long-term goal of winning another championship.
But it likely is bothering him, at least to some degree, according to head coach David Adelman. "I mean, he won’t admit it, but it’s bothering him," Adelman said.
Marc J. Spears talked about how it's hard to see a stat line of 35 points, 20 rebounds, and 12 assists and see that anything is wrong at all with the Joker. And he's right. But there's definitely something wrong with the Nuggets and the Joker.
The larger issue at hand is the inability to close out games
And that something is a double-edged sword of bad defense and poor crunch-time performances by the Nuggets. Brian Windhorst made sure to point out that the Nuggets are a terrible defensive team without Aaron Gordon and Kendrick Perkins connected on the combo, reinforcing that the Nuggets have devolved into one of the worst clutch teams in the league as well.
That really has been the defining theme lately. In the 10 games since Jokic's return to the lineup, the Nuggets have had 6 clutch games, and only a 1-5 record to show for it. The late-game lapses on defense and costly turnovers are more of a concern than Jokic's wrist.
It also hasn't helped that the Nuggets have had so many injuries. "The lineups we’re playing right now are not lineups that we ever thought would probably play together extensively. So we’re trying to figure out what’s best and how to space the court correctly," Adelman said.
Nuggets fans are just used to seeing them win these close games, just like they did in the past few years. It's been an uncomfortable adjustment to say the least.