Nikola Jokic has not hesitated to be his own team’s harshest critic at various moments this season. The aftermath of his career-long, nine-game win streak was the latest example.
“We had the nine-game winning streak against teams that were injured, and teams that were not really good or high in the standings,” Jokic said after Denver’s 123-100 loss to the Lakers at Ball Arena. “So maybe we tricked ourselves into (thinking) that we are playing good.”
The Nuggets (37-20) are 10-14 against teams with winning records as of Sunday. Their nine-game surge into the second-place conversation in the West was indeed assembled with wins against opponents with losing records.
Now Denver faces a four-game road trip against a quartet of Eastern Conference playoff teams.
“No one’s going to be scared that the Denver Nuggets are coming to town,” coach Michael Malone said. “So we have to play a lot better than we did tonight. We got away with it against Charlotte (on Thursday), but against the quality of opponent that we played (in the Lakers) … we have to understand that we can not just rely on our offense. We averaged 128 points per game on our nine-game win streak. And tonight, we had 100. So when we’re not scoring, when we’re not making shots, what are we going to do?”
The Lakers smothered Jokic, who scored his second-fewest points in a game of this season (12). He was also held to season-lows in field goal attempts (seven) and shots made (two).
Two ways to evaluate the result emerged: Jokic’s perspective that Denver has been sailing this month without a proper test, or that Los Angeles just really wanted to win this one. So much so that first-year coach JJ Redick threw a proverbial kitchen sink at Jokic with his game plan.
“There are certain moments throughout the season that you just get up for. And I pretty much haven’t slept since we walked off the court (Thursday) in Portland,” Redick said. “I spent a lot of time on this game. Our staff spent a lot of time on this game. I envision our guys playing hard. They played harder than I could have envisioned.”
The Lakers have been eliminated by Denver two years in a row. They had lost 13 of their last 14 head-to-head meetings before Saturday. Jokic’s Nuggets have been their Achilles heel throughout the LeBron James era, predating the arrivals of Redick and now Luka Doncic.
“I think the game plan was amazing,” said Doncic, a longtime friend of Jokic. “Obviously, you all know what kind of player Jokic is. It’s very tough to guard him. So the way we did today I think was unbelievable.”
Rui Hachimura (6-foot-8, 230 pounds) was the primary matchup on Jokic (6-11, 284), but the Lakers took turns fronting him. Jarred Vanderbilt set the tone by hounding him the length of the court, picking up fouls away from the ball. LeBron James accepted the challenge for a few possessions and succeeded. Redick sent waves of on-ball help defense at the reigning MVP and took away his go-to passing outlets. Angles that only Jokic is supposed to identify were studied, mastered and tactically eradicated. He was responsible for six of Denver’s 20 turnovers.
“Their hands were on the ball in the passing lanes,” Jokic said. “They didn’t have fear of making mistakes, gambling. They were really good.”
“Give them credit,” Malone said. “They cross-matched. They doubled him every time. They fronted him on the elbows. They weren’t letting him catch the ball. What’s the best way to stop a player? Don’t let him touch it.”
Jokic was stumped (or playing the part of stumped) when asked how he can counter teams that game-plan around fronting him and denying him touches. But he did offer one snippet of insight: “Maybe use myself as a screener more.”
The Nuggets also didn’t get him open using off-ball screens as much as usual, or have him operate as a ball-handler in pick-and-rolls. Whether that was a failure of the game plan, a lack of execution or a calculated decision to withhold solutions was unclear.
Whatever the case, Malone was blunt in his postgame assessment that Denver had been both out-played and out-coached.
“Give them credit,” Jamal Murray said, echoing the sentiments of his coach and teammates. “They played really good, and also, we’ve had their number for a number of years now. So they get one game, we’re not gonna overreact. We’re just gonna do what we do. Make adjustments. Play more physical and bring the intensity next time. … They went into the game knowing that we’re on a (nine)-game win streak. They wanted to be the team that breaks the streak.”
