Nikola Jokic had five 20-point performances in the first seven games of the season. Since then, in the 19 games after that? Six. That’s more than five, which means that my point isn’t as hard-hitting as it could be, but still. I’m sounding like a broken record, but we need more Jokic buckets.
He hasn’t been as lackadaisy in his scoring efforts as he was during that streak in early November where he was seemingly protesting… something by not shooting. He’s taking some shots now, but the problem is that a lot of them are threes and not a lot of them are going in. It’s easy to say “just go in the post and give them the okey-doke”, but it’s not so easy for the guy who actually has to go down there and bang with the hugest dudes the world has to offer.
This particular loss was caused more by the dire injury situation in Denver than whatever Jokic was doing on the court. Still, a loss to the Hawks while not doing anything at all in the fourth quarter doesn’t reflect well on a potential MVP candidate.