It looked like more of the same on Wednesday night for the Nuggets in the first half as they were struggling to keep up with the Kings. They trailed 65-55 at home and were having trouble on both ends of the court. Nikola Jokic was doing everything he could but wasn’t getting much help.
It was the same story we’ve been seeing; teams load up on Jokic, crowding him, moving him off his spot, being physical, sending extra bodies, and forcing anyone else on Denver’s roster to beat them. And for the first half, it was an effective strategy.
This is what we saw the Lakers do, what we saw the Celtics do, and what we’ve seen other teams try to do recently. The book is out on the Nuggets; keep the ball out of Jokic’s hands at all costs, and live with the results.
Malone rips non-Jokic Nuggets at halftime
But things turned around after halftime and the Nuggets were able to slowly creep their way back into the game, eventually pulling out a big win, 116-110. Jamal Murray and Russell Westbrook especially stepped it up down the stretch and helped Joker lead the team over the finish line.
After the game Malone talked about what he told his team at halftime and how he bluntly addressed his players, telling them, “I said, Fellas, get used to this. We’re going to see this for the next 20 games. Teams are not guarding anybody not named Number 15, Nikola Jokic”.
It’s perhaps a harsh message from the Nuggets’ coach, but it’s one they need to hear. Sugarcoating the situation won’t do anyone any good; Malone’s speech was 100% accurate. The Lakers laid out a blueprint for how to slow down the Nuggets offense and the NBA is a copycat league.
This is a gameplan that’s easier to pull off in theory than in practice. But we’ve seen good teams able to hyperfocus on Jokic, get away with roughing him up a bit, and put the onus on other players. On this night, those players were able to come through. Westbrook scored 20 second-half points and hit four 3s in the fourth quarter.
He bailed out the Nuggets, but is this really a reliable strategy? We’ve talked ad nauseam about how Denver has a Russell Westbrook problem and his offense could end up being their downfall.
On this night, Russ shot 10/20 and 4/7 on three-pointers, but that’s not sustainable. Jokic is going to keep getting targeted relentlessly, and players like Westbrook are going to have to step up. It’s a scary proposition, but it’s the reality of the situation.
The fact that Michael Malone is fully aware of the problem, is addressing it with the players, and trying to motivate them now is good. They need to hear it, they need to start preparing now, and they need to be ready to counter this gameplan come playoff time. The rest of the season should just be used as preparation for that.