Six nuggets for the numbers of wins the Nuggets have collected this season on the second night of back to backs.
1. Will Barton has watched Nikola Jokic go from little-used backup center to face of the franchise in four seasons. In 2015-16, Barton’s first full season in Denver, Jokic was a lumpy second-round pick so obscure, a Taco Bell commercial was airing on ESPN when the Nuggets picked him 41st overall. At first, Barton wasn’t sure what to make of him. Jokic was skilled, but Barton wondered if he was athletic enough to keep up? Barton understands exactly what he’s looking at now.
“He’s the best player on our team,” Barton said. “We’ve known that for a while now. He’s going to be an All-Star this year. He’s one of the best players in the league.”
Jokic steamrolled his way to 40 points on 15-of-23 shooting, 10 rebounds and eight assists in a 116-113 win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday. The Nuggets needed a bounce-back performance after falling to a Devin Booker-less Phoenix Suns team Saturday. Jokic made sure that happened almost singlehandedly. He’s done that a lot lately, carrying Denver to the top of the Western Conference despite a laundry list of injuries. Improbably, he’s butted his way into the MVP conversation.
“I think it’s a no-brainer that he should be in the conversation,” Barton said. “A team that wasn’t in the playoffs last year has the best record in the West, one of the best records in the NBA. Our starting five has barely seen the floor together. What he’s doing, how can you not say he’s an MVP candidate?”
2. Jokic is averaging a career high in points (19.2 ppg) and assists (7.5 apg), but the way in which he’s grown the most this year might be from a leadership standpoint. Jokic is becoming comfortable as the face of the franchise in Denver. Teammates and coaches have noticed him speaking up during crucial moments more than he used to.
“He’s taken tremendous leaps in that area, and I’m so proud of him for that,” Barton said.
“He’s definitely accepted it,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone added. “I think this summer when he signed that contract he (realized) heavy is the head that wears the crown. There’s going to be much asked of him now that he’s our franchise player. He hasn’t shied away from that. He’s gotten so much more comfortable with being vocal.”
There was a lot working against the Nuggets on Sunday. They were playing a good team on the second night of a back to back. It was their fifth game in seven days. Jokic wasn’t going to let any of that be an excuse, though.
“For me, to be honest, there cannot be fatigue. It’s just half of the season. I think I did a really good job this summer, and most of the guys did a good job this summer, so fatigue cannot be an excuse, and we cannot mention fatigue.”
The Nuggets are 6-1 on the second night of back to backs this season. They’ve grinded out wins even when heavy legs are weighing them down.
3. The next step for Jamal Murray is consistency. Too many times, he’s followed up a brilliant performance with a clunker. Take the early part of this month. He exploded for 46 in Phoenix then scored eight against New York. He went for 36 in Sacramento and came back with eight versus Charlotte.
“Instead of getting 46 and eight, let’s get 25 a night,” Malone said. “Great players are consistent. I realize he’s only a third-year player. He’s going to get there. The sooner he gets there, the better he’s going to be and, more importantly, this organization is going to be.”
Murray was excellent against Portland. He caught an elbow that bloodied his mouth and still scored 24 points on 9-of-18 shooting. He corralled his own miss with 3 seconds to go, got fouled and knocked down a pair of free throws that helped Denver clinch the game.
Murray held his own against one of the best backcourts in the league in Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum. He’ll have to follow it up by going up against perhaps the only backcourt that’s better than Portland’s on Tuesday: Golden State’s.
4. Running offense around Jokic leads to some funky pick and roll and dribble handoff pairings. In the last few weeks, Denver has gone to a 5-1 pick and roll with Jokic as the ball handler and Murray as the screener. On Sunday, it whipped out a 5-5 dribble handoff involving Jokic and Mason Plumlee.
“He came off so fast,” Plumlee joked.
5. We’re coming up on two years since the Nuggets traded Jusuf Nurkic and a first-round pick to Portland for Mason Plumlee. Plumlee struggled at first in Denver, but this season he’s been stellar in his role at backup center. Plumlee had eight points and seven rebounds in 21 minutes. Did he get any extra satisfaction from beating his old team?
“That was so far in the past, man,” Plumlee said. “I’ve spent more time here in Denver than anywhere in the league. This is home. I’m just enjoying what we’ve got going here and trying to make the most of it.”
Plumlee spent two seasons in Brooklyn and a season and a half in Portland. Now in his third season in Denver, Plumlee has become a key piece on a team that’s in line to fulfill his preseason prediction of getting homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
6. Locking up homecourt advantage in the first round should be one of the Nuggets’ biggest priorities in the second half of the season. Why? They’re so tough to play at Pepsi Center. The Nuggets are 18-3 at home. They’ve won a dozen in a row here.
“To be home in front of our fans, five games in seven nights, that was a huge part of our energy tonight — our fans,” Malone said. “Big shoutout to them for being here and supporting us as they have.”
