DENVER — Nikola Jokić has been the best player in the NBA for years. His ascendance to that throne started well before the Nuggets went 16-4 in last year's playoffs, culminating in Denver's first title and Jokić winning Finals MVP.
Jokić made the most impact in the league night to night starting in 2021. The team wasn't good enough because of injuries, but he's been at that level. Last year was simply the inevitable recognition of his reign.
That reign is coming to an end, abruptly.
In Denver's Game 2 obliteration at the hands of the Minnesota Timberwolves, Jokić didn't have a bad game — at least by the standard of how bad Jamal Murray has been for the entirety of the playoffs. Jokić scored 16 points on 13 shots in 39 minutes — certainly below his standard — but he had 16 rebounds and eight assists. That production is going to result in good BPMs and VORPs and all of that.
Joker was a joke in Game 2.
Without the soon-to-be-reigning DPOY Rudy Gobert available for Minnesota, Jokić was manhandled and disengaged by Naz Reid and Karl-Anthony Towns. The Wolves' suffocating defense deserves the most credit for their ravenous approach to challenging everything and making life miserable for an injured and emotionally tilted Murray. They disrupted sets and prevented the Nuggets from getting the ball to Jokić where he was supposed to, then challenged him at the rim over and over.
And yet, the reality is that as the game sprinted away from Denver in the first half of Game 2, Jokić was a passive participant. Facing a lineup without Gobert, Jokić shot eight times in the first half. Murray shot 10 times, Aaron Gordon shot 10 times and Reggie Jackson shot five times.
Certainly, some of those shots were created by the doubling of the Timberwolves, the misses generated by Minnesota's ability to recover off doubles to challenge and prevent shots.
But not all of them. Not nearly all of them.
Jokić was passive and lethargic. He did not outrace the Wolves down the floor like he did so many times to Anthony Davis in the first round. There was a common word in Nuggets circles for how Jokić looked Monday night — and it's a familiar, yet alarming one.
Disinterested.
After the Game 1 beating which was only close because of an audacious stint from Jackson and the bench unit, Jokić was asked about responding to the loss in Game 2. He said something he has said before, but in the moment it felt the most wrong.
"Losing doesn't motivate me, to be honest," Jokić said.
After the Game 2 embarrassment, he was asked what does motivate him. He considered it and then replied, "I don't know, winning?"
This is the frustrating reality of Jokić. His aloof nature comes across as charming and wise when he's dominating. In this moment with fans devastated by the very high likelihood that they will not repeat as champions after feeling like the future was theirs for a solid 18 months, Jokić delivered a pretty clear perspective that he just plays. The results do not spark anything within him good or bad.
The Nuggets needed a lot of things on Monday night. They needed a healthier Murray who had worked harder on his conditioning prior to the season and/or playoffs. They needed more collective poise in countering and adjusting to both the Wolves' suffocating defense and the reality of how the NBA is now interpreting contact with fewer foul calls. They needed better shooting and better ball-handlers, better shot creation and better transition defense.
But what they needed most was leadership. And Jokić quite simply couldn't be bothered.
Part of this is what makes repeating as a champion so difficult. You can't fully commit to trying to win every game because you have to pace yourself. You can't pace yourself too much because then you fall behind. So you try and find ways to win by just enough to get you through. The Nuggets did that to end the season, unimpressive after a post-All-Star dominant streak, but enough to get them to within range of the 1-seed. They pushed tired bodies and minds to try and secure home court, only to get caught by a Spurs comeback in Game 81, meaning they neither secured the 1-seed to avoid Minnesota nor rested.
The Nuggets tried to coast through the Lakers series, going down double digits in each game before storming back, winning two on Murray buzzer beaters despite his awful overall games.
It caught them in Game 1. In Game 2, without Gobert, in a spot that home teams typically dominate, the Nuggets were punched in the face by Anthony Edwards and the Timberwolves, and didn't know how to respond.
Joker didn't hide, he didn't fall, he didn't shrink from that moment. He just checked out. He got 16 points, he grabbed 16 rebounds for that good, good BPM, and he threw some dimes.
He also got blocked twice by Reid, had four turnovers and rarely contested anything at the rim.
He was fine. And he was fine with the result.
After the game, Jokić wasn't downtrodden nor emboldened. He was mildly disappointed.
"I mean hopefully," Jokić replied when asked about his confidence that the team can come back from down 0-2. "That’s the goal, so hopefully we are going to go there and put up a fight and bring the series back."
Ready to run through a wall yet?
And look, not everyone is going to have the same approach, and particularly players that aren't American-born with the same cultural values and influences. But in times when teams are lost, they look to their best players for leadership. Star players in the NBA set the tone. Jokić, to his credit, has done so in so many playoff series for Denver. That's what's brought him superstar status and the money that comes with it.
But in Game 2, whether it was the Wolves putting him in that position or something else, Jokić simply wasn't invested in putting up the fight. The Nuggets meekly surrendered, save some whimpering about the officiating.
This is a moment for Jokić to respond, and if he does, he'll add to his lore. But in the aftermath of the basketball devastation at Ball Arena after Game 2, the conversation cannot be avoided that Jokić may have to give up that title as best in the world. You can't be the king if you don't want to sit on the throne.
