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DENVER — The Denver Nuggets are coming off of a deflating loss at the hands of the Miami Heat Wednesday night. While there is some current negativity surrounding the Nuggets, who are losers of three of their last four, there are positives to take away from the first 18 games of the season.
One of those positives is Nikola Jokic, who seems to be improving gradually and slowly getting back or close to the level he was playing at last season. Jokic is coming off of one of his better individual performances of the year scoring 17 points, grabbing 14 rebounds and handing out 3 assists against the Heat Wednesday, and now has back-to-back double-doubles after a good showing Sunday in Phoenix against the Suns.
Through 18 games, Jokic is averaging 9.4 points, 6.7 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game as the 21-year-old continues to close in on his numbers from last season.
If the Nuggets are to get back on track it will be a direct reflection of how Jokic plays and contributes to the team. The recent success of Jokic is not random and head coach Michael Malone has made an effort to get Jokic into a rhythm as of late.
“I think extended minutes. Even though Nurk has been starting, Jokic been getting the lion share of minutes at center and I think I’ve been making a more concerted effort when he is out there to play through him.” Malone said at practice Thursday in regards to Jokic’s continued improvement. “We put him on the elbows, in the high post, in the low post, and play through him. When the ball is in his hands, good things happen. He’s playmaking, he’s rebounding, he’s scoring.”
Jokic becoming more of a focal point of the offense will remedy quite a few issues the Nuggets have been dealing with, including their inability to finish at the rim early this season. Malone knows this has been a looming issue, and with Emmanuel Mudiay and Jusuf Nurkic sharing the court in the starting lineup, that issue is compounded even further.
“We lead the NBA in shots at the rim. We are 29th in rim percentage. We missed 21 layups last night [against the Heat] and that was a problem last year. So we get there more than anyone in the league but finish the second-worst in the league and were 24th in free throw percentage.” Malone explained. “If we make two more layups a game and made two more free throws a game we would be averaging 112 points a night and we would probably be 11-7 as opposed to being 7-11.”
While a lot has not gone the Nuggets way this season it seems that Denver is still extremely close to taking the step from a talented young core of players to a playoff participant, but must navigate a few obstacles that stand in their way.
“My message to the team is that we are close. It is in the details. It is in the habits,” Malones said. “We work on finishing every day. Take it serious because we are not finishing in games. I hate that we are 7-11 but I am very optimistic with where we are and the potential that this team has.”
