Nikola Jokic comments on shooting woes in OKC series

While evening their playoff series with Denver at 2-2, the Thunder have accomplished something that seemed impossible — they’ve found a way to keep Nikola Jokic under control. The Nuggets center finished with 27 points in Sunday’s Game 4 loss, but he remained uncharacteristically inefficient, shooting 7-of-22 from the field and being limited to three assists.

It continued a frustrating trend for Jokic, who has struggled since scoring 42 points in the series opener. He’s shooting 21-of-63 from the field over the last three games and his assist-to-turnover ratio is an awful 19-to-23. It’s the first time in his career that he has shot worse than 40% while taking at least 15 shots in three consecutive games, according to Tim MacMahon of ESPN.

“It’s a little bit of everything,” Jokic said in Sunday’s post-game media session. “They’re playing really good defense on me. They’re really into my body, physical. I think I missed two or three open looks night, so it’s a little bit of everything. They’re shrinking the floor on me. They’re having a guy behind the defender, so it’s a bit of everything. I need to do a better job, of course, but it’s part of the game.”

Jokic was noticeably off his game in the fourth quarter as Denver let an eight-point lead slip away. He made just 2-of-7 shots during the quarter and went 1-of-4 from the foul line, including two costly misses with the Nuggets trailing by four points and 3:15 remaining.

In contrast, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who has battled Jokic as the MVP favorite throughout the season, was outstanding in the clutch on Sunday. The OKC guard hit three shots in the final 4:36 and finished with 25 points.

Gilgeous-Alexander wouldn’t reveal any secrets about the Thunder’s defensive strategy against Jokic, telling reporters he’s “not sure” how they’re shutting him down and adding, “but we have to keep doing it if we want to win.”

It has been suggested that fatigue might be playing a role in Jokic’s sub-par numbers, and MacMahon points out that Sunday marked Denver’s seventh game in the past 13 days. There was a short turnaround as the teams tipped off roughly 36 hours after the end of Friday’s exhausting overtime matchup. Nuggets coach David Adelman said both teams had “tired legs” as they combined to shoot 33.5% from the floor, which MacMahon states is the worst mark for a playoff game in 21 years.

While the Thunder can rely on a deep bench to help prevent their players from wearing down, the Nuggets don’t have that luxury, especially at center. Jokic has logged 44 and 43 minutes in the last two games.

Credit should also go to center Isaiah Hartenstein, MacMahon adds, who was signed as a free agent last summer to help OKC match up better with opposing bigs. Jokic shot just 3-of-10 on Sunday with Hartenstein as his primary defender.

“We’re just really just focused on how to execute as a team,” Hartenstein said. “He’s a great player. We know he is going to make tough shots throughout the series, but we’ve just got to stay disciplined. I think that’s the biggest key. We’ve been doing a great job staying disciplined, great job playing team defense. Again, he’s a great player, so he is going to make shots eventually.”