"If we make shots, we win that game": How Denver's two stars handled a disheartening loss shows their contrasts

After the Nuggets laid enough bricks to build a new Natural Grocers, Nikola Jokic ambled to the interview room, nonchalantly answered questions and when it was over, went all court jester.

“My voice sounds funny on this thing,” he said, jiggling the microphone in front of him. “Hahaha.”

Meanwhile, his pick-and-roll partner was upstairs getting shots up to try to erase the sting of a 101-96 loss to the San Antonio Spurs. Jamal Murray headed to the Nuggets’ practice court with his father, Roger, and tried to wash away the disappointment of an 8-of-24 shooting performance by seeing a few go in.

“I’m frustrated,” said Murray, who finished up well after midnight. “I was just shooting.”

Jokic and Murray make a dynamic pair on the court, but their approaches are oftentimes opposite. That showed in the way they dealt with the disappointment of letting a golden opportunity slip through their fingers in Game 1. The Nuggets defended well enough to win and generated good looks; they just couldn’t get any of them to go down. A 6-of-28 3-point shooting performance doomed them.

“I think we had open shots,” Jokic said. “We just couldn’t make it.”

Like they did in their first meeting in the regular season, the Spurs dared any Nugget not named Jokic to beat them. San Antonio swarmed Jokic with an extra defender when he caught the ball near the basket. For the most part, Jokic made sound decisions against that pressure — handing out 14 assists, the second-most ever by a center in a playoff game, compared to three turnovers.

“Every time he put it down, there was somebody right there,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “They trapped him every time. Nikola has a high I.Q. He’s going to make the right play. Unfortunately, we didn’t make them pay for double teaming him enough.”

Will Barton and Paul Millsap both went 1 of 5 from deep. Murray was even worse, missing all six looks he got from behind the arc. Despite their struggles, the Nuggets still had a chance to go ahead late. Down by one with 13.3 seconds remaining, Malone drew up a Murray-Jokic pick and roll. Murray came off the screen and got a great look from the elbow. It hit off the back iron.

“A shot that he’s made a thousand times,” Malone said. “And he’ll make again.”

The Nuggets had a chance to tie after LaMarcus Aldridge hit a pair of free throws to stretch the lead to three, but Murray was pickpocketed at half court by Derrick White. Denver never got a game-tying attempt up. It was a rough postseason debut for the 22-year-old.

“I know he’s hard on himself,” Millsap said. “It was his first playoff game. You want to see that though, want that emotion.”

Scoring the basketball has rarely been a problem in the Jokic era. Yet after the All-Star break, the Nuggets ranked 22nd in offensive efficiency. They’re stocked with players with pretty strokes but finished 17th in 3-point percentage in the regular season. To take some pressure off Jokic, someone is going to have to step up.

“It comes down to if we make shots, we win that game,” Murray said. “So we’ve just got to have confidence.

No one sounded like they were hitting the panic button in Denver’s locker room afterward. The Nuggets were pleased they held DeMar DeRozan (18 points on 6-for-17 shooting) and Aldridge (15 points on 6-for-19 shooting) in check. They also liked the quality of looks they got. The problem was they just didn’t make them.

“We were all excited,” Murray said. “We were probably too excited. That’s why some shots didn’t go down. But we’ll make them. We’ll calm down. It’s going to be a good series.”

Overeagerness is understandable. Six of the nine Nuggets who logged minutes Saturday were making their playoff debut. With an average age of 24.9, Denver came in as the youngest team in the Western Conference side of the bracket. Murray, Jokic and the rest of their 20-something teammates now have a tase of what it’s like — the intensity, the added distractions, how much every possession means.

Jokic and Murray handled the disappointment of surrendering home-court advantage in their own ways. It was just one game, and at no point did the Nuggets look overwhelmed. Both could take solace in that. Denver needs its scoring guard and star center on their games to rebound.

“If we’re making shots, I think it becomes a lot harder to double team him (Jokic) consistently,” Malone said. “They stayed with it because we couldn’t make a shot.”

As Malone pointed out, one can take pressure off the other.