Let’s face it: The Nuggets aren’t even in Game 7 against the Thunder without Nikola Jokic. He’s the best player in the world and the only reason the Nuggets can even be considered a contender. They won the title in 2023 despite never pairing an All-Star player with Jokic; he was still able to get them over the hump.
They’ve managed to stay in contention even though the roster has only gotten worse, and now Jokic has basically been carrying a skeleton crew for the past few years. He deserves an extreme amount of grace, and through everything, he has been the one stabilizing force on the team, the best player, and the lone source of reliability.
Nuggets needed Jokic to be perfect in Game 7
But the reality of the situation is that for the Nuggets to have had any real chance of beating the Thunder in Game 7 on Sunday, they needed the best version of Jokic, and that’s not what they got.
He was working with a one-armed MPJ and a one-legged Aaron Gordon, he got a no-show from Jamal Murray, and a rough Russell Westbrook night. And yet, we’ve seen the Joker carry his team to more improbable victories. Perhaps not by much, and perhaps even a perfect version of Jokic comes up short, because Denver was that overmatched, but we’ll never know.
Thunder beat up Jokic and took him out
The Thunder swarmed Jokic from the opening tip with smaller bodies and were all over him from the get-go. They were extremely physical and did a great job of keeping the ball out of his hands. They took Jokic out of the game as much as any team has, and it was surprising to see the Joker unable to punish smaller players with his own physicality.
He finished with 20 points, 9 rebounds, and 7 assists, but attempted just 9 field goals on a night when his team mustered up just 93 points. They needed a lot more, and Jokic wasn’t able to provide it. Give credit to OKC for constantly hacking at him and daring the refs to call it, forcing Joker into 5 uncharacteristic turnovers, several of which led to fastbreak dunks.
By most players’ standards, it was still an excellent performance, but for Jokic’s insane standard, this fell a bit short. He is hardly to blame, as OKC was selling out to stop him, and he got virtually zero support from his teammates, but that’s just how great Jokic is.
Standard needed from Jokic shows why changes are needed
At the end of the day, this is a much bigger reflection on the Nuggets’ roster than it is on Jokic. The fact that he needed to play a perfect game just for his team to have a chance, and that his 20/9/7 wasn’t even close to good enough to keep Denver competitive, shows just how flawed the team is.
The burden on his shoulders is preposterous, and the front office needs to reshuffle the deck this offseason. His last few seasons have been incredible, but the wear and tear is showing come playoff time. He can do a lot, but he can’t do it all alone. The supporting cast wasn’t up to snuff this season, and that needs to change.