Starting off on the basis of his best career season, Nikola Jokic cannot, however, do everything Denver and, when he has to go out to rest, his team tends to collapse. As evidenced by this differential +13.0 points per 100 possessions when he is on the court.
Nothing very surprising when you are unanimously (or almost) considered the best basketball player on the planet, but what may surprise you is the low statistical production of the bench. Nuggets : 25.7 points per game. In other words… 28th best in the league (only the Lakers and then the Knicks do worse).
“ I think they play well » judge nevertheless the Serbian pivot. “ I don't think they are primarily responsible for our record. We're still trying to learn how to play together. We have had a few injuries and absences, so we are still in a learning phase. »
Accept defeat to bounce back better
With Russell Westbrook, Peyton Watson, Julian Strawther and even Dario Saric coming off the bench, Michael Malone has enough to offer interesting things, but the mayonnaise is currently struggling to take hold in Colorado. Proof that this team has indeed displayed two faces so far: one with its starters and one with its replacements…
“ You never want to lose, but it's part of the process » adds Nikola Jokic in any case, in reference to his team's mixed record (10 victories and 8 defeats for 9th place in the West). “ We just have to learn from this and be better. Or we can blame each other… But what we do will determine the rest of our season. »
While the “Joker” appears serene, Aaron Gordon admits: “ Our margin of error is no longer as large as in other years “. No doubt because he is also aware that the successive losses, linked to finances, of Bruce Brown then Kentavious Caldwell-Pope have hurt the collective balance of these Nuggets…
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| Nikola Jokic | 15 | 37.5 | 56.2 | 50.8 | 81.9 | 4.1 | 9.1 | 13.2 | 10.7 | 3.7 | 1.5 | 0.9 | 1.9 | 29.6 |
| Michael Porter, Jr. | 18 | 35.7 | 50.4 | 40.9 | 62.2 | 1.6 | 5.6 | 7.2 | 2.8 | 1.1 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 2.4 | 18.6 |
| Jamal Murray | 15 | 35.8 | 42.4 | 33.3 | 79.3 | 0.5 | 3.5 | 4.1 | 6.2 | 2.0 | 1.4 | 0.5 | 1.7 | 18.1 |
| Christian Braun | 18 | 34.9 | 58.6 | 47.9 | 78.5 | 1.2 | 3.8 | 5.1 | 1.9 | 1.3 | 1.2 | 0.7 | 2.2 | 15.9 |
| Aaron Gordon | 8 | 29.5 | 53.2 | 54.2 | 85.2 | 2.4 | 3.6 | 6.0 | 3.3 | 1.3 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 1.9 | 14.8 |
| Russell Westbrook | 18 | 24.7 | 38.4 | 36.2 | 67.1 | 0.8 | 3.2 | 4.1 | 6.1 | 2.4 | 1.5 | 0.6 | 2.4 | 12.0 |
| Peyton Watson | 18 | 26.0 | 48.6 | 35.6 | 77.8 | 1.1 | 2.5 | 3.6 | 1.3 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 2.1 | 9.9 |
| Julian Strawther | 18 | 20.6 | 45.4 | 41.0 | 79.4 | 0.3 | 1.8 | 2.1 | 1.3 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 2.8 | 8.9 |
| Dario Saric | 10 | 13.6 | 30.0 | 26.3 | 83.3 | 0.9 | 2.6 | 3.5 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 0.6 | 0.0 | 1.4 | 3.4 |
| Deandre Jordan | 8 | 9.8 | 55.6 | 0.0 | 25.0 | 1.3 | 2.0 | 3.3 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 2.6 |
| Hunter Tyson | 12 | 9.2 | 43.5 | 23.1 | 85.7 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 1.7 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 1.2 | 2.4 |
| Vlatko Cancar | 4 | 8.6 | 57.1 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 1.3 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 2.3 |
| Zeke Nnaji | 12 | 5.2 | 36.8 | 0.0 | 25.0 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 1.3 |
| Trey Alexander | 8 | 5.2 | 20.0 | 16.7 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.9 |
| Pj Hall | 4 | 2.0 | 33.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.5 |
| Spencer Jones | 2 | 1.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Jalen Pickett | 2 | 1.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
