The Denver Nuggets suffered their most embarrassing loss of the season on Saturday night, losing 122-113 to the lowly Washington Wizards at Capital One Arena. After the game, Nikola Jokic somewhat jokingly suggested in his press conference that Nuggets players should have their pay cut to get some motivation for their upcoming games.
“A reaction,” Jokic said when asked what the Nuggets need to see in the next few games. “In my country, where I’m coming from, after this kind of stretch you’re gonna get a paycheck that is a little bit less than you are worth. So maybe that’s what we need to do. Maybe a little motivation that way”
“What’s the name of it? Being benched? Being on the bench, I think that’s really good motivation too,” Jokic added.
Well, the Nuggets might as well try anything at this point to turn things around. The one individual on the team who certainly doesn’t deserve to have his pay cut or to be benched is Jokic. He was simply spectacular against the Wizards and it’s a shame he still ended up on the losing side when facing a team that entered this contest on a 16-game losing streak.
Jokic finished with a career-high 56 points in Washington, going 22-38 from the field, 3-5 from three, and 9-13 from beyond the arc. The three-time MVP also had 16 rebounds, eight assists, and a steal on the night, but it still wasn’t enough and the loss dropped the Nuggets to 11-10 on the season.
Jokic didn’t get much help from his supporting cast against the Wizards and that’s starting to become a common occurrence at this point. With both Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon missing the game due to injury, the Nuggets needed Michael Porter Jr. to step up but he only had 11 points (5-14 FG), five rebounds, six assists, one steal, and one block on the night.
Julian Strawther (18 points) and Christian Braun (14 points) were the only other Nuggets to even get to double figures in points. It was just a woeful showing from the team.
What also doomed the Nuggets in this game was the disparity in three-pointers. They went just 5-24 from beyond the arc while the Wizards were 16-41. More than half of those (nine) came from Jordan Poole, who had 39 points, five rebounds, and eight assists against the Nuggets.
Poole ripped apart the visitors in this one to help the Wizards improve to 3-18 on the season. The Nuggets have now become just the second team, after the Atlanta Hawks, to lose to them this season and should be quite embarrassed about that.
It will be interesting to see if the Nuggets put in a strong performance in response to this defeat when they take on the Hawks next at State Farm Arena on Sunday at 6 PM ET. How they perform in that one will tell us a lot about where this team is mentally at this point. If they put in another insipid performance then it might already be time to dismiss them as contenders.
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