The one-man band, Nikola Jokic reached a new individual high in a first ballot Hall of Fame career on Saturday. However, it was not enough to avoid an embarrassing loss to the worst team in the NBA.
Jokic’s Denver Nuggets fell to the Washington Wizards by nine, 122-113, despite the three-time MVP posting 56 points on a remarkable 22-of-38 from the field, along with 16 rebounds and eight helpers. The win snapped a long and painful 16-game losing streak for Washington, whose record remains an NBA-worst 3-18. All of the other 29 NBA team have at least five wins.
“I think today and the last couple games were really bad for us,” Jokic said. “We are really going in the wrong direction. I think it’s everybody’s fault.”
In the case of Jokic, the career high was not solely an indication of his brilliance as much as a lack of a supporting cast for the Nuggets. Jamal Murray (hamstring) and Aaron Gordon (calf) were both out Saturday, essentially leaving the big man as option Nos. 1, 2 and 3 for a team that is now 11-10.
“I was forcing at the end,” he said.
The other Denver players that took the floor with Jokic were just not good enough, combining to shoot 24-for-56 with 10 turnovers. The more glaring and pressing issue though, might have been on the defensive end of the court, as the NBA’s worst team by offensive rating looked downright competent facing the under-manned Nuggets.
Embed from Getty ImagesNo wonder Jokic offered a particularly drastic solution to the problem afterward.
“In my country, where I’m coming from, after this kind of stretch, you’re going to get a paycheck that is a little bit less than you had hoped,” the Serbian star said, drawing a laugh. “Maybe that’s what we need to do. Maybe a little motivation.”
Sharp shooter Jordan Poole finished with a team-high 39 points on 12-of-26 shooting, burying 9-of-20 from 3-point range, with eight assists. G League veteran Justin Champagnie, who had barely gotten his feet wet playing roughly four-and-a-half minutes in the NBA before Thursday, had a coming out party with 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting.
There are not going to be very many defeats worse than that around the league this season, even if the Nuggets were short-handed and the Wizards got the rare Jordan Poole 2022 vintage game when he was with the Golden State Warriors and won a championship.
“We have a lot of issues, mainly on the defensive end of the floor,” coach Mike Malone said.
Malone put the blame on himself.
“I’m doing a really poor job with this team,” he said. “For us to be 11-10 at this point and losing to a team that last five games is averaging a hundred points a game and they put up 122 on us — I’m embarrassed by that.”
Denver now faces the second half of a back-to-back with a road game against Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday, before the NBA schedule pauses for the NBA Cup.
Washington host Ja Morant and the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday.
