Yes it’s just one game, long way to go man…Nugs boys still worried?
They can't shoot any worse than they did on Thursday but then neither can the Nuggets. Miami showed glimpses at the start of Q4 but the game overall had the feel of a tall heavyweight holding off a shorter opponent with his jab to win unanimously on points.I guess you can never really count Miami and Spo and jimmy out but honestly the likelihood of Caleb Martin Gabe Vincent and Duncan Robinson continuing to shoot 75% TS or whatever they did against Boston wasn't exactly high.
Miami played perfect today to force Jokic to let go of being the primary playmaker and end up with only 4 assists. I posted this months ago that the strategy that has worked against Jokic last 3 playoffs is to limit his assists below the 5/6 range and let him score. Draymond mentioned this in a podcast he did a couple of weeks ago as well that the one game Jokic looked normal was when the Twolves choked his playmaking to 6 assists. He was the main playmaker in the regular season but only averaged 5.xx assists in the playoffs for 3 years until this year with Jokic dominating the ball usage%.I think the Nuggets, especially as constructed this season, are a much stronger regular season team than a play-off team because while Jokic's role as a facilitator is getting stronger and stronger in the regular season each year, teams force him to play a much more traditional center iso offence heavy style in the play-offs as opposed to the christmas tree point center role he plays in the regular season. He suddenly is forced to take a lot more shots, jack up more threes and create far less shots in the playoffs for his team every season and considering how heavy the Nuggets are leaning into him as a facilitator, I think this year might be an adjustment nightmare for them in the playoffs considering he has 9.7 assists this season and not be able to generate as much in the playoffs considering the last few years.
Jokic in the last 3 years:
Year AST (reg season) AST (playoffs) 2019-20 7.0 5.7 2020-21 8.3 5.0 2021-22 8.0 5.8 2022-23 9.7 ?
What game?Seems like a bad game to miss.