Grades: Nikola Jokić Leads Denver Nuggets to Victory in Ball Arena

The Denver Nuggets returned to Ball Arena for the home opener Friday night as they hosted the San Antonio Spurs. The starters came out flat, the bench picked them up, and Nikola Jokić carried everyone home in the fourth quarter. It wasn’t a pretty team performance, but it was another masterpiece from the reigning MVP. Sometimes that’s all you need.

To the grades:

Nikola Jokić – A+

It’s hard to overstate the brilliance of Jokić when he closes out a game. It is dominance personified and leaves even the most experienced witnesses in disbelief. His dedication to his pace, regardless of the defenders or the score—his commitment to playing precisely the way he wants to—is the stuff of legend. He is the best closer in the game.

On Friday night, Jokić treated the Nuggets faithful to another MVP caliber performance. In just under seven minutes of playing time in the final quarter, Jokić scored 10 points on 5 of 5 from the field, grabbed 2 rebounds, and dished out 2 assists. He was magnificent on that end of the floor all night, but he also churned out another quality performance on defense.

In addition to great steal and deflection rates, Jokić is a space octopus on the glass. He routinely stamps out opportunities for second-chance points and often finds a way to start the fast break in the same motion. Jokić is a flawless player on one end and criminally underappreciated on the other.

Michael Porter Jr. – D+

Porter turned in a somewhat surprising performance. We’ve seen him struggle before, but that typically involves poor defense and poor shot selection. On Friday night, Porter missed his shots. He hit his most important look of the night, though, an insurance three late in the game, and hopefully, that gets him going. The good news is we don’t have to worry about Porter, the shooter. It will come around.

Aaron Gordon – C+

Gordon played with an edge and good energy, but he found himself in foul trouble and wasn’t the answer to a red hot Keldon Johnson.

He finished with 5 rebounds, and while the total isn’t much to write home about, he battled hard and won some crucial 50-50 opportunities.

Will Barton – B-

You take Barton’s good with the bad, which typically manifests as 1-2 ill-advised shots per game. On Friday night, it might have been 3-4. An inefficient night as a scorer marred an otherwise all-around performance. Barton finished with both the second-highest rebound and assist marks on the team.

Monte Morris – C+

Morris picked it up as a scorer, finishing with the second-most points on the team. Unfortunately, and in a rather shocking fashion, he also recorded a reverse-Monte. Morris turned the ball over four times and only logged one assist.

Facundo Campazzo – B

Campazzo was the best player off the bench Friday night. He put his fingerprints all over the game as a defender, including a blocked jump shot (!!!), and ran the second unit well. Facu is still well off the mark from deep, but he did some damage around the rim against the Spurs — a welcomed sight. He scored 8 points and tacked on 4 assists with 4 rebounds.

OVER on Facu rebounds forever.

JaMychal Green – B-

Everyone’s friend, JaMychal Green, scored 10 points off the bench and played a solid all-around game. One of the two Greens will need to be hitting from deep on any given night, and on Friday, it was JaMychal. He hit 2 of 3.

Office Hours

Game 1 – @ Phoenix Suns – 10/21/21

I appreciate this amendment from ‘Trade Up 4 Fields’ to the last report card. I was too low on Jeff Green as I felt reluctant to reward the second unit. This commenter did a good job outlining what I missed — Green was the best player off the bench in Game 1.

I would give Jeff Green a B or B+ instead of a C+ for last night’s game. My argument for this is his best play came at the most important time for the Nuggets. His stellar shooting early in the fourth quarter (2 back to back made threes) negated any Suns comeback/momentum which was vastly more important than the play in the second quarter. Even in the second quarter, he was playing the best out of the entire unit.