Prior to a January matchup against the Charlotte Hornets, Michael Malone put in a request to president of basketball operations Tim Connelly and then-general manager Arturas Karnisovas. The Nuggets’ backcourt was banged up entering the dog days of the NBA regular season and Malone had just lost starting shooting guard Gary Harris to a groin injury. Paul Millsap was also already out of the lineup due to a bruised left knee.
Denver’s coach asked his front office if they’d call up two-way guard PJ Dozier from the G League. Malone needed backcourt insurance and Dozier had been posting gaudy numbers for the Windy City Bulls. Four days before the Nuggets’ mid-January home date with the Hornets, Dozier tallied 32 points, seven rebounds, nine assists, three steals and one block in a win over Goga Bitadze and the Fort Wayne Mad Ants.
Dozier’s Nuggets debut was a memorable one. He finished with 12 points on 5-7 shooting, four rebounds and two assists in a 100-86 win. It’s the moment that still sticks out to Malone when he reflects back on Dozier’s rise and when exactly it occurred to him that the 6-foot-6 guard with arms that stretch from Denver to Boulder could be a contributor.
“That was a game that further cemented it in my mind of PJ’s value,” Malone said. “And the fact that he’s not a G League player. He’s an NBA player. All he needs is a chance.”
It’s the harsh reality of the NBA. Opportunities for someone like Dozier, a third-string guard on a Western Conference contender, don’t present themselves often. But Dozier capitalized on every brief opening in Denver’s rotation throughout the regular season. When Dozier played meaningful minutes in Games 1 and 5 of the Nuggets’ first-round series against the Jazz he shined defensively, and in Sunday’s Game 2 against the Lakers, Dozier again made an impact when his number was called.
Dozier entered the game at the 2:06 mark of the third quarter and didn’t leave the floor over the rest of the game. Malone ended up closing Game 2 with him over two trusted defensive stewards in Harris, who went just 1 of 6 from the floor Sunday, and Torrey Craig.
His highs were sky high. During the fourth quarter of Game 2, Dozier rotated over from his help-side position to take two charges, one on Kyle Kuzma and one on LeBron James. With 3:36 left in the fourth, Dozier blocked James at the rim on a layup attempt and came up with a loose ball when LeBron turned it over two minutes later.
Dozier also had perfect placement on this lob to Mason Plumlee earlier in the fourth.
But his lows were low. Dozier missed four of his five fourth-quarter free-throw attempts in a game where every point over the final 12 minutes of the game proved critical. The Nuggets of course led Game 2 103-102 with two seconds remaining before Anthony Davis’ buzzer-beating three sent the Nuggets into an 0-2 series hole.
Through it all — from the spot minutes Dozier played during the regular season to his spirited play against Utah and Los Angeles — Nikola Jokic has watched the 23-year-old with a keen eye. Dozier takes the floor for his pregame warmup routine right before Jokic, and the All-NBA big man remarked this week that he’s noticed the work Dozier has put in behind the scenes.
“I’m nobody, but I see how he’s developing,” Jokic said. “I see how he’s into it. He’s buying, and he’s listening to coaches. So it’s really nice to see the kind of upgrade that he did. He was not playing but he’s upgrading. He’s getting better.”
In giving Dozier his stamp of approval, Jokic shed some light on why the third-year guard, who bounced from Oklahoma City to Boston before playing in only 29 games for Denver this season, has been thrown into the playoff mix.
He has the full trust of his teammates and coaches. Will Barton anointed Dozier “part of the future” immediately following his Nuggets’ debut and many of Dozier’s teammates agree. Dozier also just seems like a Nugget. Like much of the Nuggets’ current roster, Dozier’s a high-character basketball junkie and fits right in with the rest of Denver’s locker room. His University of South Carolina ties with Nuggets legend Alex English make it seem like it was fate that he wound up in Denver.
Another brach of the organization that trusts Dozier is Denver’s front office, as evident by the multi-year deal the Nuggets gave him in June. Next season, Dozier will likely be entrenched on the Nuggets’ second unit.
On the court he carries a quiet confidence and Dozier plays with a fearless abandon for a lead ball handler who’s only logged around 500 career NBA minutes. He showed off a savvy skill-set and a natural feel in the pick-and-roll during the regular season and his game packs sound fundamentals too. Maybe that’s why Jokic is such a big Dozier fan: he can actually execute an entry pass, a lost art in today’s NBA, and get him the ball where he wants it.
“He’s a guy that I trust,” Malone said. “He’s not afraid of the moment.”
The Nuggets outscored the Lakers by one point in Game 2 during Dozier’s 14 minutes and he played a central role in Denver’s strong second-half defensive effort. The Nuggets held the Lakers to only 45 second-half points (after giving up 6o over the first and second quarters) on 39% shooting from the field.
It’s why despite his missed free-throws, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see a defense-first coach like Malone call Dozier’s number again in Game 3. The Nuggets’ key to overcoming 3-1 series deficits against both the Jazz and Clippers was their defense and it’s what Malone will continue to prioritize against the Lakers. Dozier’s length, IQ and defensive range, which he showed off on the two charges he took in Game 2 will likely get him on the floor again.
“He did so much good things,” Jokic said. “He was aggressive. He was going to the paint. He was making advantage for us. He took two charges. So those free-throws doesn’t really matter that much. He played great.”
