The commentators mentioned something during this game that I hadn’t realized about Nikola Jokic, but totally matched up with what I’ve seen from him this year: he’s not taking as many of those short midrange push-shot things! We demand more push-shot things from short midrange!
Instead, he’s taking a bunch of threes. He’s, dare I say it, another casualty of a three-obsessed league. He’s making them, but they’re simply not as fun as the goofy stuff he can pull off in the vicinity around the rim. We’re seeing a different Jokic this year, and it’s a result of the scheme that Mike Malone is running. In the end, he’s about as effective, just in a different way. I’m mad for aesthetic reasons, not practical ones.
Jokic had a decent game again tonight, but I think he straight up needed to shoot more shots. He hardly shot any for a long part of the second half, and got fouled whenever he did try them. Free throws constitute a big part of this vid, and I’m sorry. Not my fault, though. It never is, really.