Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic completely lost his cool at the end of their 112-96 Game 4 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center on Saturday. Jokic sparked an all-out brawl by angrily confronting Jaden McDaniels for scoring in the final seconds instead of dribbling out the clock.
It is not often that you see Jokic react in that manner, and he was asked about why he went at McDaniels in his postgame press conference.
“Because he scored and everybody stopped playing,” Jokic said, via the Nuggets. “Come on, guys, you saw it what happened.”
We all did see what happened, but not many would have expected Jokic of all people to react in that manner. That was out of character.
We see players get upset time to time when opponents break the unwritten rule by scoring in those situations. Chicago Bulls players were fuming after Giannis Antetokounmpo threw down a windmill dunk instead of running down the clock back in December.
Ultimately, if you don’t want someone to “disrespect” you by scoring, then stop them before they do. The Nuggets should have tried to get in McDaniels’ way instead of letting him stroll to the rim for a layup.
You wondered if Jokic, who was ejected along with Julius Randle for unsportsmanlike conduct, would see things differently once he had cooled down a bit. The 31-year-old was later asked in this presser if he regrets confronting McDaniels, and he does not.
“I don’t regret,” Jokic said.
Jokic said he does indeed view that as an unwritten rule that shouldn’t be broken. The three-time MVP also dismissed the notion that he did it to fire up his teammates. Jokic and the Nuggets, as a whole, could do with some firing up, though. They have been completely outplayed these last two games and are now on the brink of elimination, down 3-1.
We have seen Jokic be somewhat of a playoff riser throughout his career, but he has struggled in this series. Here in Game 4, the eight-time All-Star had 24 points (8-22 FG), 15 rebounds, nine assists, three steals, and one block.
Jokic was asked for his assessment of his play in the series and replied with one word: average. He’s maybe been worse than average.
Jokic is averaging 25.0 points, 14.5 rebounds, 7.8 assists, 1.5 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game against the Timberwolves. While that looks very good, he is shooting 39.1% from the field and 18.5% from beyond the arc.
Had Jokic been playing anywhere near his best, the Nuggets might be the ones up 3-1. They definitely would have won this game, as the Timberwolves were without Anthony Edwards and Donte DiVincenzo for the entire second half. They had lost both members of their starting backcourt to injury in the first half, and the Nuggets failed to capitalize.
McDaniels was among those who stepped up. He had eight in the fourth quarter and finished the night with 12 points (4-11 FG), eight rebounds, three assists, and one block. McDaniels was also asked postgame about Jokic confronting him and said he doesn’t know what was said. As for scoring with that layup late, he doesn’t see anything wrong with it.
“Clock still be running,” McDaniels said, via Anthony Slater. “So I’m going to go score.”
It’s simple. Play till the final buzzer. Or better, win the game so that no one can “disrespect” you by scoring. It sure looks like McDaniels got in the Nuggets’ heads by calling them all bad defenders. They need to regroup and put their best foot forward, or else they’ll be going on vacation a lot sooner than they’d have expected.
Game 5 will tip off at Ball Arena on Monday at 10:30 p.m. ET.
