Going down 2-1 in the first round series against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets are searching for answers.
While Denver hasn’t been perfect since winning the NBA Championship a few years back, it’s incredibly rare to see Jokic struggle the way he has against Rudy Gobert and the Timberwolves.
Following a lackluster shooting and playmaking night, Jokic opened up on his struggles and discussed what he could do better moving forward.
Nikola Jokic Gets Honest On Struggles vs Timberwolves
“They’re a really good defensive team, and we couldn’t make shots,” Jokic told reporters after Game 3. “To be a distributor, I need to make more shots then the defense will react. I think that’s why I couldn’t get anybody involved because they didn’t help. It was just one-on-one coverage. I need to do a little better job scoring and it’ll open up for everybody else.”
Jokic checked in for 35 minutes on Thursday night. The veteran center shot 7-26 from the field, making just 2-10 shots from beyond the arc.
The superstar center finished the game with 27 points. 11 of his points came from the free-throw line. Typically a triple-double threat, Jokic had just three assists on the night. He turned the ball over four times.
After slowing down Jokic in Game 1, the Timberwolves remained confident in Gobert’s ability to shut him down moving forward, despite going down 0-1 in the series.
Since then, Gobert has been playing at an elite level and bothering Jokic to the point where the Nuggets don’t seem to have answers at the moment.
Beyond Jokic, just one other starter notched double-digit scoring. Jamal Murray score 16 points, missing all five of his shots from three. The trio of Cam Johnson, Spencer Jones, and Christian Braun combined for 14 points, with four field goals made.
Minnesota defeated the Nuggets 113-96 to take a 2-1 series lead.
The Nuggets and the Timberwolves will resume the series on Saturday, April 25, at 8:30 PM ET. Denver is looking to avoid falling into a 1-3 hold before the series returns to Colorado next Monday.