"I've never won a game here, so it's a big thing": Nikola Jokic has gone from stable boy to putting up Shaq-like postseason numbers

SAN ANTONIO — The last time the Nuggets won in San Antonio prior to Saturday night, Jamal Murray was a freshman in high school and Torrey Craig was a sophomore at South Carolina-Upstate.

“Shoutout to Upstate by the way,” said Craig after stepping into the starting lineup and drilling five 3s in the Nuggets’ series-evening 117-103 win. “Go Spartans.”

Nikola Jokic? He was at the stables.

“I was riding horses probably,” Jokic said.

Until their potentially season-saving response Saturday following an ugly Game 3 showing, it’d been seven years since the Nuggets’ last win at AT&T Center. On March 4, 2012, Ty Lawson and Co. rolled into town and got a 99-94 win over a Spurs team that started DeJuan Blair. After that? Fourteen straight losses in the Alamo City.

Craig and Jokic were crucial in helping the Nuggets get the monkey — errr rather loaded-up-on-mushrooms coyote off their back. Craig poured in 18 points in his first postseason start while Jokic pieced together a 29-point, 12-rebound, eight-assist masterpiece.

The skepticism about Jokic during the postseason was always silly, especially against a team that can’t take advantage of his biggest weakness: defending in space. Through four games, Jokic is averaging 20.1 points on 51.1% shooting, 10.8 rebounds and 7.3 assists. He has 82 points and 47 rebounds total, numbers not seen in a player’s first four playoff games since Shaquille O’Neal made his postseason debut in 1994.

Jokic took some heat for only shooting nine times in Game 1 even though the Spurs were sending double teams his way every possession. Nobody could have any qualms with the way Jokic looked to score in Game 4. He shot eight times in the first quarter and 16 times in the first half. He wound up with 22 field-goal attempts — seven more than his regular-season average.

“I think I had a little more space in the pocket,” Jokic said. “Jamal passed to me, and Gary passed to me a couple times in the pocket. I think that was the shot that I usually was not taking because there are no pockets. Tonight, I think the pocket was there, and that’s why I shot as many shots.”

As Jokic alluded to, it helped he had space to operate in Game 4. The Nuggets shot 15-of-31 from 3-point range, a night and day difference from their 6-for-28 3-point shooting performance in Game 1. Craig connected on five deep balls, a new career high. Jamal Murray and Will Barton hit three apiece. Shotmaking and tightening the screws defensively allowed Denver to climb back from the 12-point deficit it faced in the first quarter.

“I’ve never won a game here, so it’s a big thing for me personally,” Jokic said. “And I think it’s a big thing for the team in this moment after first loss at home, and they kind of took advantage. We came here and won the second game. I think it’s great to kind of bring the home-court advantage back.”

If the Nuggets can continue to create space for Jokic inside by knocking down outside shots, they stand a good chance in this series. He is too big and skilled for Jakob Poeltl or LaMarcus Aldridge. At 6-foot-11 and 240 pounds, Aldridge is a large man. Watch how Jokic bowled over him in the second quarter on his way to an and-1.

“I kind of shot even when I had the open guy next to me in the corner or whatever,” Jokic said. “Maybe I was kind of more aggressive, but I think the pocket was there.”

Jokic got the free throw line eight times and converted every opportunity. He also committed zero turnovers in 39 minutes. It wasn’t a flawless game — Jokic admitted he missed a few bunnies inside — but he was still dominant.

“The guy is an incredible player,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “Sometimes you forget to mention him because you expect it every night.”

Malone said one adjustment he made to free his star player up was running more pick and rolls.

“Knowing they’re double teaming, putting him in more pick and roll, hitting him on the short roll and letting him play,” Malone said. 

Malone pushed a lot of right buttons in guiding his team to 54 regular-season wins, and his decision to insert Craig into the starting lineup for Barton was another good one. Craig played perhaps the best game of his career under the brightest spotlight he’s ever experienced. His outside shooting, work on the boards and defense on DeMar DeRozan were key as the Nuggets waxed the Spurs.

The monkey — I mean coyote that looks like he took too many pills at a Pretty Lights show is off Denver’s back now. It feels like a whole new series.