DENVER — Whatever doubt that began to emerge about Nikola Jokic’s standing in Denver’s pecking order after three quiet offensive games was squashed Tuesday when Jokic tallied 36 points on 12-14 shooting against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Jokic’s 14 field goal attempts were his highest total in the five games since Paul Millsap returned from a left wrist injury that caused the four-time All-Star to miss more than three months. Jokic also hit 10 of 11 free throws as Nuggets coach Michael Malone made it a point to find his big man on the low block early and often versus Cleveland. Jokic had 17 post-ups Tuesday, according to NBA.com and data from Second Spectrum. On the season, he averages 7.2 per game.
“Nikola needs to be like that every night, and we’ll all feed off of Nikola. And I think Nikola has to realize that,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “I think he does now.”
Jokic posted All-NBA caliber numbers in February, but he averaged just 7.3 points, 8.3 rebounds and 6.0 assists in Millsap’s first three games back in the lineup. He’s struggled at times to find his rhythm while playing with Millsap — just like he did at the beginning of the season.
On Friday, Millsap said he is fine deferring on the offensive end if it will help Jokic rediscover his form.
“He’s such a humble guy that sometimes he looks for me to do things, and it’s him. He’s our team,” Millsap said. “He makes a lot of things go for us, so he’s got to continue to stay aggressive. I’m here to help him and back him in any way possible.”
The duo is still working through the unavoidable struggles of learning how to play with one another after Millsap was sidelined for more than three months.
Malone has made more of an effort to call plays as of late to bring out the aggressiveness in Jokic that he played with Tuesday against Cleveland.
“Is it your turn? Is it my turn? Am I posting up? Do I have to give the ball up? The uncertainty. The lack of aggression. I think that’s the biggest thing,” Malone said about what Millsap and Jokic have to work through when playing with one another. “It’s not like it’s one thing. I think it’s more just how do we play off of each other?
A four-time All-Star, Millsap is playing a much different role this season than he ever has on the court. He’s averaging the fewest field goal attempts per game (11.9) since his fourth NBA season and at many times is the third or fourth option on offense.
His main message to Jokic is “be yourself,” and he’ll get out of the way.
“With Paul, what I love about him is not once has he said ‘Coach, I need more touches. Coach, get me the ball.’ He’s just trying to fit in and help everybody out,” Malone said. “He knows well when he came back he was coming into a team that had played well without him. Especially on the offensive end and the numbers that we were putting up, it’s like ‘Jeez. Okay. I don’t want to screw this up.’ That’s kind of his mindset. I don’t want to screw this up.”
