All season long (and just about every other year since 2021, when Nikola Jokic won the first of his three Most Valuable Player awards), the narrative surrounding the Nuggets has been that of an otherworldly superstar carrying everybody else to victories. And, admittedly, the argument is not without merit; after all, the 41st overall pick in 2014 has been nothing but spectacular in translating a triple-double norm to 50 wins and the fourth seed in the highly competitive West.
The other day, however, fate dealt the Nuggets a twist that had even Jokic’s staunchest critics wondering in askance. The National Basketball Association’s paragon of efficiency came up with one of his worst showings in 11 years as a pro; in 44 minutes of exposure, he could do no better than put up 20 points on a whopping 25 shots, including 10 that he took — and missed — from three-point territory along with a career-high eight turnovers. And so atrocious was his output that even he had to admit, with just a tad of embellishment, that, “basically, I was the worst player on the court tonight.”
That said, there’s no question that Jokic would be happy to absorb more bad games just to secure the same outcome for the Nuggets as that of Game Three of their semifinal-round series against the favored Thunder. Indeed, the blue, yellow, and red still emerged triumphant despite his poor play, belying the notion that their success is entirely predicated on how far he leads them. For the other day at least, they were the ones who carried him; from Jamal Murray to Aaron Gordon to Michael Porter Jr. to Christian Braun to, yes, Russell Westbrook, they proved their capacity to be greater than the sum of their parts. Never mind that the biggest one served up an uncharacteristic clunker.
In other words, the Nuggets managed to beat the Thunder by, well, practically being the Thunder. Meanwhile, their opponents clearly suffered from a subpar performance from presumptive MVP awardee Shai Gilgeous-Alexander; for the fourth time in eight playoff matches to date, the latter produced a sub-40% shooting clip. Not for nothing did the visitors come up with a mere two field goals in the last four minutes of regulation and all of overtime the other day.
Needless to say, the protagonists are resilient. The Nuggets have gone four and two in their last six outings despite Jokic averaging a mortal 22.2 markers (on an anemic 50% true shooting) and 7.7 dimes, not to mention 5.3 giveaways. The Thunder pocketed 68 wins in the regular season because their deep bench managed to withstand occasional mediocrity from Gilgeous-Alexander. That said, there can be no denying logic: The series may well be determined by which prime mover manages to meet expectations first.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and human resources management, corporate communications, and business development.
