The Denver Nuggets suffered another ugly loss on Thursday night in Milwaukee, falling to the Bucks, 121-112. The story going into this one was the meeting of MVP superstars, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic - and the big men did not disappoint.
Giannis, in victory, led the Bucks with 28 points, 19 rebounds, and 7 assists, while in a losing effort, Jokic paced the Nuggets with 32 points, 14 rebounds, and 10 assists. Perhaps even more impressively, against a big front-line defense of Giannis and Brook Lopez, Jokic shot a ridiculous 13/16 from the field.
One could certainly argue that Jokic actually got the best of the star matchup, outplaying Jokic to an extent with extreme efficiency. And yet, the Nuggets were behind the 8-ball for this entire game due to the tertiary stars and role players on either side.
Jokic let down by supporting cast
This has been the question all season with the Nuggets; is the supporting cast around Jokic good enough to win a title? And on nights like Thursday, the answer to that question certainly looked like a resounding ‘no’.
Jamal Murray was second on the team with 20 points but needed 20 shots to get there, only chipped in 5 assists and made just two three-pointers. Perhaps on a good day, the Nuggets could still pull out a win on an off-night from Murray, but this was not a good night for the rest of the rotation.
Michael Porter Jr. had one of his worst games in a long time, scoring just 12 points on 5/22 shooting and 2/11 from three. Aaron Gordon had just 9 points on 4/13 shooting and 1/6 from three. And Russell Westbrook scored 10 points on 4/13 shooting and 1/4 from long distance.
Put simply, the Nuggets can’t win like this. The Bucks are a good, but no great team, and Denver still didn’t stand a chance, even with Jokic playing out of his mind. As the competition picks up, and especially once the playoffs start, the Nuggets are going to see more and more coverages thrown at Jokic.
We saw it the other night against the Lakers; they sold out to limit Jokic and the rest of the team wasn’t able to keep Denver in the game. Now, on Thursday, Jokic went crazy on offense and the team still wasn’t able to pick up the slack.
The lineup around Jokic is a major concern and may prevent the team from contending for a championship. He’s not playing alongside another all-star, all-defense player, or all-rookie player. The talent just isn’t there and Michael Malone is going to have to figure out a way to get more out of this roster.