For three quarters of the Denver Nuggets' home opener against the New Orleans Pelicans, the team played with little energy. Their defense was terrible, and the memories of last season's first-round playoff series against the Minnesota Timberwolves came roaring back. The home crowd fans booed loudly, and ya know what? It lit a fire under the Nuggets, didn't it? Maybe our three-time MVP Nikola Jokic should play with the same energy he showed to close out the game for an entire four quarters and see what happens before he goes and tells the home crowd fans to stay at home next time. His comments were way off base.
Jokic didn't hold back his thoughts about the boos in the post-game press conference.
"We get booed, the first home game, and I think those fans who boo us, they don't need to come anymore. Because if you guys follow us, you know that we never quit, and we came back from much worse or similar situations. So if they ask me, they're not welcome anymore," Jokic said.
Hold on a dang minute here, Joker! That's a step over the line. And the fans had every right to boo you as loudly as they did after watching three quarters of no energy and no effort on defense.
Jokic needs to remember to play hard for four quarters
The fans who come to Ball Arena spend their hard-earned money to come watch Jokic play hard for four quarters. They work hard for their money and expect the same effort from him for an entire game, not just when it's go time at the end. They weren't booing anything other than the poor effort and energy on defense. Defense takes energy and effort, plain and simple.
Through the first three quarters of the game, Jokic was a traffic cone in the paint. The Pelicans shot 28 of 34 in the paint, for 82.4%, in just three quarters. There was zero effort to contain them inside or outside to keep them from getting into the paint. They had scored 108 points through three quarters, and the Nuggets were down 23 at one point, getting embarrassed in front of the hometown fans. The Pelicans finished the game with a whopping 70 points in the paint.
Who's the man in the middle? Jokic. It wasn't entirely his fault, of course, but the low energy was a team-wide thing. That's what the fans were mad about. They saw it against the Timberwolves to end last season, and they were witnessing it again.
After the bench unit, led by rookie second-round sensation Trevon Brazile ignited the furious rally to win, Jokic's defense came alive. He had 2 blocks in the fourth quarter, 1 in overtime, and he was moving faster and with more energy on defense than I can remember. He even came from the perimeter to close out with Trevon Brazile on the Pelicans' last possession of regulation to force the vital stop. And the crowd was fired up and LOUD and loved to see it! Play with that same energy for four quarters!
That's what Nuggets fans expect from Jokic and the team. They don't want to boo. But when they feel their hard-earned pay isn't getting their money's worth, they have a right to let the players know about it. And the fans becoming a loud, playoff-caliber crowd when the team came alive is exactly what will happen with effort and energy earlier in the game.
Again, this is resolved with the same effort applied across four quarters. If the Nuggets and Jokic play with that same defensive effort for an entire game, they could take down any team in a seven-game series and win the whole thing at season's end.
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