With a heavy heart, Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic continues to let his play do the talking

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Just because the game was over didn’t mean the spectacle was.

As Nikola Jokic lingered, so did fans. Wizards fans. A portion of the crowd flocked toward the corner of the Capital One Arena lower bowl overlooking the visitors’ court-entry tunnel, everyone angling for a closer look at the two-time MVP center who had just scored a season-high 42 points in Denver’s 113-104 win.

When Jokic meandered toward the tunnel, the fans gave him a round of applause to send him off.

It was everything Jokic disdains, of course. The phone cameras flashing. The attention directed toward him specifically. But this was a significant display of collective appreciation for him away from Denver, one of the most distinct sights to behold in a Nuggets season full of them.

“I think it’s the highest honor for a player, when you can go on the road and lead your team to a victory and you have the respect of the entire NBA community,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “Most of the time you’re on the road, it’s a hostile environment. But I think fans — true fans — and students of the game, they understand greatness. And how fortunate they are to watch a player that just plays the right way. There’s a lot of talented players in this league, but if you don’t love Nikola Jokic, I don’t know what you’re looking for.”

Jokic has been playing with a heavy heart his last two games. His former head coach at the Serbian club Mega Basket, Dejan Milojevic, died suddenly last Wednesday after suffering a heart attack in Salt Lake City. A Golden State Warriors assistant coach since 2021, he was 46.

People with the Nuggets, including Jokic’s teammates, say Jokic has attempted to maintain a steady professionalism in the days since Milojevic’s death, even as the loss has been hard on him. It shows in that Jokic has declined to speak to media after both games. Instead, he has let his play do the talking: In Boston and Washington, the Serbian center averaged 38 points on 69% shooting from the field and 76% true shooting. Denver’s consecutive wins have been two of his best individual performances of the season.

“That’s greatness,” teammate and friend Aaron Gordon said. “… I know he’s going through a hard time. I just want him to know that he’s appreciated for going through it, and (that) he knows we’ve got him in tough times. He’s just — he’s great. He’s great.”

“We’re all there for him,” Michael Porter Jr. told The Denver Post. “Definitely trying to be there for him, and he handles it in his own way.”

Jokic’s 42 points Sunday were collected on just 20 shot attempts as Wizards coach Wes Unseld Jr. — a former Nuggets assistant who’s close with Jokic — opted to single-cover the big man in the post. The Celtics also played Jokic largely one-on-one Friday, when Jokic’s 34 points ended Boston’s 27-game home win streak that dated back to last March.

“Can’t do it,” Reggie Jackson said firmly, interrupting a question that started with, “When you see teams single-cover Jokic…”

“Can’t do it,” he repeated. “… He’s liable to get 50 on any given night.”

The strategy hasn’t stopped Jokic from helping out his teammates, either. He had nine assists in Boston and eight more in Washington, including yet another no-look, over-the-head dime to a cutting Gordon. Fans in attendance responded with oohs and ahhhs, and they perked up in their seats whenever Jokic checked back into the game. He even received “M-V-P” chants from the opposing crowd as he attempted free throws late in the game, already safely across the 40-point threshold.

“When I was in Cleveland for five years, we would get that with LeBron (James) a lot,” Malone said. “… It doesn’t happen very often.”

A clutch quality has persisted in Jokic’s trying time as well. Denver trailed 98-95 with less than five minutes remaining at TD Garden as an imposing fanbase roared with momentum. Jokic scored in the post twice in a row to give the Nuggets the lead for good, 99-98, in a fourth quarter so dominated by defense that both teams combined for only five points in the last 3:36. Jokic’s two baskets, like most of them, had the appearance of effortlessness.

“Amazing. You could feel it,” Jamal Murray said that night when asked about Jokic playing through grief. “Obviously not just here, but the whole organization. The whole league. (Milojevic) is well-known, and you just want to play for him. You want to play with his spirit lingering above you. … You just try to play your heart out and know that this could end at any time.”