Dragan Bender probably watched the highlights from Nikola Jokic’s triple-double last night (or he watched some vintage Roko Ukic clips [do any Roko Ukic NBA clips even exist?]), because he was whipping passes around the court like a maniac tonight. Is this what people were talking about when they kept claiming he “knows how to play the game”? I bet it is.
A lot of good that does him though when he can’t hit a shot to save his life. After those two consecutive good games early in January, he slumped into one of the slumpiest slumps I’ve ever seen: 10 shots made in a bit over 200 minutes of playing time. Even for his low shot-making standards, that’s pretty dismal. His playing time doesn’t seem to be a huge issue for him anymore; over 20 minutes per game is plenty for a guy at his stage of development. The stage of development called “he can’t hit shots but he’s not a total negative on the court”.
Maybe this will be the game to break him out of the slump and back up to his usual level. In any case, it’s his third-highest scoring game of his NBA career and it’s also the most assists he’s ever dished. Actually a really nice game for him, in case you were thinking I was being too negative.