It’s a good thing the Nuggets won this game, because I was having a hard time seeing them winning the series after losing the first two games at home. At the same time, I kinda would’ve liked to see that loss, just to see the implosion of Nuggets fans. Would there be boos? Were there boos that I didn’t hear? Would they throw stuff onto the court? Would Will Barton make out of the arena alive?
A loss also would’ve been a serious indictment on whatever MVP case Jokic has left. He had a triple-double last game, but it was the “10 point” kind of triple-double, good, but the kind where you wonder why the best player on the team wasn’t trying to score the ball more. And he started out this game the same way. He picked it up, eventually ending up with 21, more than his regular season average, but I was freaking out for the first quarter of this game. I won’t say I was yelling at the TV, telling him to score more, because I wasn’t, but I was projecting angry thoughts in his direction very hard. Stuff like “stop being all mopey and sulky and just put the ball in the bucket” and “you’re the MVP, play like it you doughy blob”.
Thanks to Jamal Murray and his fourth-quarter heroics, the Nuggets avoided total embarrassment and at least walk out of Denver with a win. Jokic only ended up with one assist to Murray (all the rest were to Gary Harris), which means something. Does it mean that the Nuggets are losing confidence in a Jokic-run offense when the game gets close, instead reverting to more traditional hero-ball?