After we first opened the Elevator Doorways a couple of month in the past, I began with virtually 1,000 gleefully delirious phrases concerning the expertise of watching Nikola Jokic play basketball.
The most effective participant within the sport has in some way elevated his sport to a different unprecedented, unexpected stage. He’s at present both first or second in each main counting statistic and he has the chance to win basketball’s Triple Crown, main the NBA in factors, rebounds, and assists. He’s so good at basketball that it borders on the surreal.
What has modified within the month since posting that column? Properly, the group round him is crumbling into ash, for starters.
The Denver Nuggets got here into Saturday night time’s sport in opposition to the Washington Wizards hovering simply over the .500 mark and reeling from a disappointing 126-114 loss at Cleveland. The Cavaliers are among the best groups within the league and there’s no disgrace in dropping to them on their dwelling courtroom, however each Nugget other than Jokic, Gordon, Russell Westbrook (credit score the place it’s due – a welcome shiny spot throughout this stretch) and the biweekly respectable capturing sport from Michael Porter performed like their ft had been caught in moist cement.
The issue with the 2024-2025 Nuggets has been how the overwhelming majority of the roster surrounding Jokic treats their game-to-game effort like an ocean tide. Generally, it’s excessive tide (the Dec. 3 win over Golden State, the 25-point thumping of the Los Angeles Lakers, the five-game profitable streak in early November). Different instances, it’s low tide (the Nov. 25 catastrophe in opposition to the Knicks, the sleepy Nov. 15 sport in New Orleans). Michael Malone appears to don’t know who’s going to indicate up from sport to sport round Jokic, and neither can we.
After that lackluster outing in Cleveland, Denver wanted a make-right sport in Washington. The Wizards didn’t win a single sport in November and had been engaged on a winless December heading into that sport in opposition to the Nuggets. Exterior of some thrilling younger gamers nonetheless figuring issues out, this group barely resembles an NBA roster. Useless final in offensive score. Useless final in defensive score. Useless final in wins. Useless final typically basketball actions. This group’s precedence is to place themselves right into a place to draft Cooper Flagg – failing that, Ace Bailey or Dylan Harper.
The Denver Nuggets couldn’t lose this sport, may they?
Let’s hit pause for a second: The NBA is an unimaginable league. Everybody who performs severe minutes for an NBA group is a succesful, proficient, phenomenal basketball participant. Any NBA group can, in concept, beat another NBA group on any given night time – particularly on this high-variance 3-point period. A “unhealthy” group beating a “good” one occurs on a regular basis. It’s circumstances that separate “stunning losses” from “gut-check disasters.”
The circumstances surrounding Denver’s journey to DC? The vibes sucked (how’s that for high-level basketball evaluation).
It’s not simply that the Nuggets can’t fairly string collectively a number of consecutive high-effort video games. It’s not simply that this group is now on the play-in bubble within the extraordinarily aggressive Western Convention. It’s that the remainder of the group doesn’t appear to care that they’re losing among the best seasons from among the best gamers within the historical past of basketball.
We’ve seen the viral clip 1,000,000 instances by now: Jamal Murray recognizing up on the wing, watching the ball bounce away from him and ignoring Aaron Gordon frantically calling for a group huddle. We’ve additionally seen the non-viral clips of Murray struggling to get separation and Jamal Murray struggling to remain in entrance of different top-end guards. We’ve seen Porter – allegedly a high-level 3-point murderer – miss one among each three free throws he (hardly ever) takes. We’ve seen Christian Braun, Peyton Watson, Julian Strawther, Hunter Tyson – principally each younger participant drafted on this Calvin Sales space period – get blown up at point-of-attack protection in opposition to anybody good. We’ve seen Zeke Nnaji’s 4-year, $32 million contract take up loads of bench area. We’ve seen Dario Saric’s 2-year, $10.5 million contract within the seat proper subsequent to Nnaji. We’ve seen the tweets saying that the Nuggets might want to connect a first-round choose to dump Nnaji and one other first-rounder to dump Saric in any commerce.
We’ve seen sufficient.
Denver’s 122-113 loss in DC wasn’t simply one other loss. This was a forensic examination of every part that has gone incorrect with this group since Sales space took over for Tim Connelly. Jokic performed the game in addition to it will possibly probably be performed, but it surely wasn’t sufficient to beat the worst group within the league. It defies logic. Jokic scored 56. Each different Nugget scored 57. Jokic pulled down 16 rebounds. Each Nugget not named Westbrook (once more, stunning shiny spot!) pulled down 20. Jokic went 3-5 from 3-point vary (No. 2 in 3pt% this season, in case you’re scoring at dwelling). Each different Nugget went 2-19 – each from Strawther.
No Gordon, no Murray, certain – however since when does that matter when taking part in a group on a 16-game dropping streak? Gordon’s injury-riddled 2024 has been a significant component within the fluctuating effort. He’s this group’s second-most essential participant, most essential defensive participant, and greatest IQ/chemistry man alongside Jokic. Gordon is a load-bearing beam on this roster. With out him, every part crumbles.
Murray…hmm. How can we talk about what’s going on right here? Let’s first acknowledge this group wouldn’t have a title with out him. The Jokic-Murray two-man sport was the NBA’s most enthralling, hypnotic, unstoppable offensive faucet dance. All credit score due. However the man merely has not been the identical basketball participant since touchdown the $208 million extension. A small market group that has the unlucky behavior of blowing draft picks and fringe free agent signings can’t additionally blow it on the $200M+ contracts. Except Murray’s sport/angle/all-around vibe will get again to 2022 ranges, this group is sunk – easy as that.
It’s not honest to Jokic. They need to know that. They see what we see, solely with a much better vantage level and all of the behind-the-scenes work that makes Jokic’s sport sing. Solely Westbrook and Gordon appear to appreciate that.
Jokic is just not screwing round this season. It will have been really easy for him to go searching at this group and resolve to pack it in, head again to Serbia, are likely to his horses, get pleasure from his life. As a substitute, he hung 48/14/8 on the harmful Atlanta Hawks (one of many solely groups with wins over each Boston and Cleveland this season) on Sunday.
That’s a two-game stretch of 102/30/16 and the Nuggets went 1-1 with a disastrous loss to the worst group within the league and a blowout win over a possible playoff group. What’s occurring right here?
The remainder of this roster remains to be not befitting a participant of this historic magnitude. One thing must occur – one thing massive. Jokic is simply too essential for this to proceed.
And 1’s:
• Talking of all-time greats hovering round .500, Giannis Antetokounmpo is having one of the best season of his profession, too – which, by extension, is among the greatest seasons in NBA historical past. He leads the league in scoring at 32.5 factors per sport (proper forward of Jokic), with 11.6 rebounds and 6.4 assists. He is identical court-swarming demon he’s at all times been, however simply 5% higher at each aspect of the sport. The Bucks round him nonetheless look a bit previous/gradual, however maybe that has a bit extra to do with Giannis’ depth than anything. Since a disappointing one-point loss in Charlotte on Nov. 16, Giannis and the Bucks have reeled off eight wins of their final 10 video games – albeit in opposition to a softer stretch of the schedule. Whereas the Bucks have righted the ship from that horrendous 2-8 begin, the remainder of the squad must rise to Giannis’ effort stage in the event that they hope to advance multiple spherical within the playoffs. Maybe Giannis and Jokic ought to host their very own assist group.
• Time to panic in Lawrence? The Kansas Jayhawks got here into the season as one of many favorites to chop down the nets in San Antonio in April, however after back-to-back losses in opposition to Creighton and Missouri, issues look a bit shaky. All-American Hunter Dickson was straight-up outplayed by Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner and the Jayhawks’ point-of-attack protection had no shot in opposition to Missouri’s Tamar Bates. Let’s see how these Jayhawks react to seeing two completely different crowds storm the ground in opposition to them within the span of lower than per week.
