“I like it. It feels like home”: Nikola Jokic welcomes Utah’s boisterous crowd in Northwest Division showdown

NBA crowds are nothing, Nikola Jokic says, compared to the fans he played in front of in the smaller but more intimate arenas back home in Serbia. Jokic can still remember the pulsing sounds of the barrel drums beating from high atop the grandstands during the National Cup Finals against Zvezda, a game where his side Mega (the club Jokic grew up playing with) ultimately came up short, the deafening roar from the crowd which never sat down and the layer of fog that hovered over the court for the entire game

The environment Denver will enter tonight in Utah, where some of the loudest fans in the league reside, comes as close as an NBA arena can to replicating the crowds that Jokic grew up playing in front of. He relishes those types of atmospheres.

“It’s not a big arena, and the crowd is right next to you,” Jokic said of Utah’s Vivint Smart Home Arena, the venue for Wednesday night’s nationally televised matchup. “I like it. It feels like home. We need to just play our game. We can not let that affect us.”

Denver enters tonight’s matchup as the only remaining unbeaten team in its division at 6-0 and with last week’s blowout loss at the hand of the Warriors well in the rearview mirror. The Nuggets responded by taking care of business against the Bulls and Cavs, beating the two Eastern Conference bottom-dwellers by 30 and 22 points, respectively.

But the Jazz, winners of eight of their last 10, pose a much more difficult challenge than Denver’s previous two opponents. Donovan Mitchell, who’s averaging 28.6 points, 4.1 rebounds, 5.0 assists and is shooting 42.0 percent from three over that stretch, looks to have regained his form from Utah’s 2017-18 stretch run. Jazz big man Rudy Gobert is averaging 14.4 points, 15.6 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game over his last 10. Utah also recently got guard Ricky Rubio back from injury in its loss Monday night to Portland.

“They’re a tough team. They are playing really good team basketball. They’re kind of similar to us,” Jokic said. “Of course, they have a great big, they have a great home crowd. I think they’re much better playing at home than when they’re playing on the road.”

Denver is well-rested following its win over the Cavs on Saturday, but time off hasn’t exactly been the best thing for Jokic and the Nuggets this season. Jokic, who’s averaging 19.6 points, 10.0 rebounds and 7.7 assists per game this season, has seen his averages slip to 16.0 points, 8.4 rebounds and 7.4 assists in the five games Denver has played this year on at least three days rest. Jamal Murray on three-plus days of rest is averaging just 15.2 points on 37.0 percent shooting from the field and under 20 percent from three in five games this year.

Still, Denver will take its well-earned time off. The Nuggets have navigated significant injuries to three starters — Will Barton, Gary Harris and Paul Millsap — and still sit second in the Western Conference at 31-14 more than halfway through the season. Denver has the most games missed in the league due to injury this year.

“I think this time of year, rest is so important. So we’ll see how we play,” Malone said. “We’re going into three games in four nights, so we’ll see how we respond to not playing in three days. But you can’t put a dollar sign on rest both mentally and physically, so I think it was good timing in that regard.”

While Millsap has returned to his starting role since coming back from a fractured big toe on his right foot last month, Barton and Harris are still coming off Denver’s bench. Both are operating on a sub-20 minutes limit, and until that restriction is lifted, the Nuggets’ starting shooting guard and small forward will continue to play mostly with Denver’s second unit.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that Gary Harris will be back in the starting lineup, that Will Barton will be back in the starting lineup, and relatively soon. The reason for me is, Gary, for example, has a 16-18 minute restriction. So for me the best way to use that is to play him the end of the first and the beginning of the second (quarters), so he’s got consistent minutes. I don’t want to start him, take him out, get him cold and put him back in. Up and down, that’s not good for him. When those restrictions become mid-20’s then they’ll probably move back into the starting lineup.”

Injuries have robbed much of Barton’s and Harris’ seasons to this point, and both are still looking to rediscover their pre-injury rhythms. But Jokic has been the model of durability for Denver this season, starting all 45 games for the Nuggets and posting career numbers on the way to what will likely be the first All-Star appearance of his young career.

He’ll look to add to his resume tonight in front of a raucous crowd and in an arena where the Nuggets have lost seven straight.

“Their fans get into it,” said Malone, who’s yet to win in Utah as the Nuggets’ coach. “They’re really loud, obviously. They lost the other night against Portland, another division opponent, so they’ll be ready for us. National TV. It’s at altitude, so there’s no disadvantage there for us. But the crowd, it’s really loud. When they go on a run it’s really loud and tough place to play. We’ve given ourselves chances. The last couple of years we have not been able to get over the hump.”