Certainly, the Nuggets had to do without Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon for this game in Washington. But the Wizards had been in distress for more than a month, and remained on 16 consecutive defeats. They were also deprived of quite a few people (Kyle Kuzma, Malcolm Brogdon, Alex Sarr, Corey Kispert, Kyshawn George…). Above all, Nikola Jokic (56 points, 16 rebounds, 8 assists) felt very alone.
At the end, that’s one more defeat for Denver (11 wins – 10 losses), which is starting to worry…
“We are really going in the wrong direction” notes Nikola Jokic. “It’s everyone’s fault. Not just that of the coach. It's not his fault if we don't shoot. It's not his fault we don't communicate. Sure, he has a small part but we're just not good collectively. »
If the triple MVP defends his coach, Mike Malone, it is because the latter had decided to take responsibility for the team's current problems, explaining that he was unable to get his message heard in this group.
The three-time MVP has ideas for motivating his teammates…
“We have video sessions. We talk about the guys' responsibilities, we talk about the problems but they repeat themselves, over and over and over. My responsibility is there, in the fact that we are 11-10, because I am obviously doing a poor job of preparing us as a team, not only to win, but also to be able to go on the field and to just set things up. »
For Michael Porter Jr, the main problem is linked to absences, executives having developed chemistry and communication which disappear as soon as they are no longer there. “As a team, we need to find our dynamism, our zest for life, to know that when we enter a room, we are supposed to beat the opponents. I don't think we have that right now. We were very, very mediocre.”
“Teams score 125 points every night against us, so I guess we are the worst defense in the league” continues Nikola Jokic, who exaggerates a little, his team being… 19th in the “Defensive Rating”.
“I’m waiting for a reaction” he concludes. “In my country, after this kind of sequence, the check we receive is lighter than usual. Maybe that's what we need to do. To find a little motivation. And maybe going to the bench, that’s generally a pretty good motivation too…”
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| Nikola Jokic | 17 | 37.7 | 55.9 | 50.0 | 81.7 | 3.9 | 9.5 | 13.4 | 10.4 | 3.7 | 1.8 | 0.8 | 1.9 | 29.9 |
| Michael Porter, Jr. | 20 | 35.6 | 50.9 | 41.1 | 67.3 | 1.6 | 5.6 | 7.2 | 2.7 | 1.3 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 2.3 | 19.0 |
| Jamal Murray | 17 | 36.0 | 42.0 | 33.3 | 80.3 | 0.5 | 3.5 | 4.0 | 6.2 | 1.9 | 1.4 | 0.6 | 1.7 | 17.8 |
| Christian Braun | 20 | 35.2 | 57.1 | 43.4 | 78.4 | 1.1 | 4.0 | 5.1 | 1.9 | 1.5 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 2.3 | 15.4 |
| Aaron Gordon | 10 | 30.3 | 55.2 | 53.3 | 78.4 | 2.1 | 4.3 | 6.4 | 3.3 | 1.4 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 1.6 | 15.1 |
| Russell Westbrook | 20 | 24.1 | 38.8 | 36.0 | 66.7 | 0.8 | 3.1 | 3.9 | 5.9 | 2.4 | 1.4 | 0.6 | 2.4 | 11.7 |
| Peyton Watson | 20 | 25.2 | 48.6 | 37.5 | 78.6 | 1.0 | 2.5 | 3.5 | 1.3 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 2.1 | 9.5 |
| Julian Strawther | 20 | 20.2 | 43.8 | 38.8 | 79.4 | 0.3 | 1.7 | 2.0 | 1.3 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 2.7 | 8.4 |
| 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 | 14 | 5.1 | 40.0 | 0.0 | 25.0 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 1.2 |
| 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 |
