After games where he scored nine, nine, and five points, pretty much every Nikola Jokic fan in the universe was pleading to their TVs/phones/wives/internet-forum-based support groups for Jokic to be more aggressive scoring-wise. Coaching and teammates (read: Paul Millsap) can shoulder some of the blame for Jokic’s low scoring output in the last three games, but at some point, some of the blame has to shift to the guy who’s not scoring as much as he should. You just have to grab the big Serb by the shoulders, look him in the eyes, and tell him “You need to get your pasty white Serb butt out there, demand the ball from your guards, and make those defenders into your personal bitchslaves.” That’s what I would have done if I were Mike Malone. Except, I probably wouldn’t grab him in any way in case he misinterpreted my gesture and punched my lights out.
Whatever Jokic did/had done to him to get back into the scoring mindset apparently worked, because he went out and scored 36 points on only fourteen shots. He was posting up, requesting the ball, and doing work on anybody the Cavs sent his way. Unfortunately, Jabroni Lames outdid Jokic with a 39/8/10 statline, the Cavaliers won the game, and the Nuggets’ playoff hopes got slightly more remote.
Don’t fear, Nuggets fans and Serbs who are watching this video! The Nuggets will easily make the playoffs as long as Jokic gets 36/13/6 every night, because most teams in the league won’t be able to withstand that kind of statistical onslaught.