By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
The Denver Nuggets have had their ups and downs early on this season and their consistency has been a problem. Their latest two straight losses against the Memphis Grizzlies pointed that out even more and coach Mike Malone is aware of it.
“Every time (Nikola Jokic) comes out, everything just falls apart. It’s every night. I went to him in the fourth quarter and I called his name. He looked at me kind of like, ‘Already?’ And I feel for him…Nikola’s going to be worn down by Christmas at this rate,” the coach said.
Jokic had a shot to tie the game against the Grizzlies (108-106) but couldn’t make it go in over Jaren Jackson who contested it. The coach is more than ok with it.
“I will live with Nikola taking that shot regardless of the result 1,000 times out of 1,000. You’ve got the MVP taking a shot that is definitely in his wheelhouse.”
Jokic himself as well.
“I will take that shot any day. I’m really comfortable taking that shot. I’m not doubting myself. It was a good shot.”
However, he also knows that he’s got to do better than that. As the leader.
“They look to me as a leader. I need to be much better…It’s not them to blame. It’s me, then everybody else. It’s not one guy. You cannot say bench. You cannot say starters. You cannot say coach. It’s all collectively. It’s me first then the rest of the group,” Jokic said and pointed to the consistency as well.
“It seems like every game, we have one part of the game where we are playing really bad. I don’t know what it is, but we need to figure it out.”