Unusual bloody viral moment for Nikola Jokic not enough to earn a free throw

When fans saw that the Nuggets would be without Aaron Gordon and Peyton Watson on Sunday against the defending champs, they figured Denver wouldn’t be putting up much resistance on the defensive end. This felt like a game that would have to be a shootout for Denver to hang around, but that wasn’t the case at all.

This early morning tilt in Boston turned into a rock fight with both teams ratcheting up the defense, forcing each other to play out of their comfort zones offensively, and a grind-it-out kind of slog overall. 

This was a physical battle from the jump that the Celtics ultimately held on to win, 110-103. Perhaps the level of contact allowed was best exemplified by a viral moment late in the first quarter.

Jokic dripping blood from vicious cut leads to stoppage

At some point during the end-to-end action in the final minute or so of the first frame, Jokic was scratched in the back of his arm. The cut opened up and the Joker started leaking quite a bit of blood. The game was stopped for a minute or two while Jokic’s arm was toweled off.

Nothing was called on the floor and it’s not entirely clear when exactly the cut happened and which player caused the scratch. It just speaks to the physical nature of the game and how many hands and bodies were all over Jokic on Sunday afternoon.

This is becoming a constant theme for Nuggets opponents to get into Jokic and be physical with him in an attempt to work him off his spots and make him uncomfortable. We’ve seen it work a few times and if refs allow teams to play this way, they’re going to keep trying it.

Jokic doesn’t shoot a single free throw

And despite all the physicality and the bodies all over Jokic, he didn’t attempt a single free throw in Sunday’s game. He played 39 minutes, scoring 20 points to go along with 14 rebounds, and 9 assists while dealing with constant double and triple teams.

But he didn’t go to the line once. The Celtics were allowed to be physical with him and forced the Nuggets to play through other players. The Denver role players weren’t able to chip in enough points Boston forced a lot of possessions to end with Russell Westbrook and Christian Braun jump shots - something teams will happily live with.

For the second straight game, Michael Malone blew up at the officials and took an early technical foul to set the tone. On Friday night in Detroit, he did it 49 seconds into the game while this time it was in the first 30 seconds of the second half. Malone wasn’t happy with a no-call on a Jokic three-point attempt and let the refs know it.

It’s clear he’s trying to stick up for his big man and try to dissuade teams from playing so physically and aggressively against Jokic. It didn’t particularly help this time and the Nuggets are still left searching for answers to this defensive gameplan.