Nikola Jokic beginning to battle a different type of opponent on MVP crusade

The wear and tear of an 82-game regular season is not for the faint of heart.

Injuries will at one time or another hit every team like a tidal wave. The Nuggets know what that’s all about. Denver has overcome a league-high 264 games missed this season due to injury on its journey to the second spot in the West. Complacency, apathy and flat out boredom will crush teams, too, especially in the dog days of the season like the middle of March, the portion of the NBA calendar when lethargy from players and reporters sets in. This time of the year, every year, you catch yourself uttering an old media proverb: an 82-game slate is utterly ridiculous.

Nikola Jokic wore those emotions on his sleeve Thursday when for three quarters the Nuggets’ All-Star center looked like he wanted to be anywhere but on the basketball court. He lumbered through 22 minutes, handing out assists, corralling rebounds and initiating Denver’s offense. But you could count how many times he looked or made an aggressive move to the basket on one hand.

Then, as Michael Malone put it postgame, Jokic “turned the switch.”

Jokic scored nine of the Nuggets’ 21 fourth-quarter points. He sunk all four of his field goals over the final 12 minutes of regulation. Whatever energy Jokic didn’t have during quarters one through three, he dug deep on the game’s final possession, nailing an improbable 9-foot floater, just over the outstretched hands of Dwight Powell. Denver wanted to get the ball to Jokic closer to the block for the game’s final shot, but he made do.

It was a fitting way for Jokic to end a game the Nuggets would like to forget. Denver let the 27-41 Mavericks, who didn’t arrive in town until 10 a.m. Thursday morning due to the Bomb Cyclone winter storm that grounded 700 flights coming in and out of Denver International Airport, hang around for four quarters.

“Powell played really good defense, I think,” Jokic said of his game-winner. “He was right there. But I made it. Lucky shot.”

These late fourth-quarter floaters from Jokic aren’t exactly lucky anymore. They’re now routine. Jokic hit a game-winner in Miami on a similar but less difficult runner earlier this season. He’s not just Denver’s best closer but one of the best finishers in the league.

The Serbian is now shooting 34-68 from the field in “clutch” situations this season, when the score is within five points with five minutes or less remaining. Jokic’s teardrop against the Mavs was his sixth go-ahead bucket that came in the final minute of a game this year. Only nine players in the NBA — Kyrie Irving, Kawhi Leonard, Zach LaVine, Mike Conley, Bradley Beal, Kemba Walker, Blake Griffin, James Harden, and Luka Doncic, who almost ended Denver’s night on the game’s previous possession with what could have been a game-winning poster dunk over Paul Millsap — have converted more clutch field goals than Jokic this season.

“He knows in the fourth we’re coming to him,” said Monte Morris. “Me and Jamal (Murray), even coach, said ‘Punch it in.’ It’s his time. It’s his team, and we’re going to get the ball to our franchise player and let him win the game for us. We’re just his supporting cast.”

While Jokic dragged his team to the fourth-quarter win, Paul Millsap did the heavy lifting for most of the night, converting one signature runner after another on his way to a game-high 33 points on 14-19 shooting. Denver’s league-leading fourth-quarter defense paved the way for Jokic’s brilliance down the stretch, too, holding Dallas to just 10 points on 4-19 shooting over the final 12 minutes of regulation. The Nuggets will need the Jokic that showed up in the fourth quarter Thursday to play with that sense of urgency for the entire game during Denver’s final 15 regular season games and then in the playoffs.

Right now, Jokic is feeling the effects of the never-ending NBA regular season, one that he’s gone through from start to finish as the Nuggets’ No. 1 option. He may be battling fatigue more than his opponent that night. He could be slightly worn out. But at this point in the year, who isn’t?

“Nikola’s tired. He’s been carrying this team all season,” Malone said. “And for us to be where we are, second in the West a game behind Golden State, Nikola’s an MVP candidate in my opinion, and he’s wearing the weight of that in terms of the games and us going to him and the mental fatigue as well.

“Heavy is the head. To much is given, much is expected, and we expect a lot out of Nikola and he delivers 99 out of 100 nights at a high level.”

Thursday, Jokic delivered again.

It wasn’t the first time and certainly won’t be the last.