On Saturday evening, the Denver Nuggets saw their nine-game winning streak come to an end with a blowout home loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. Nikola Jokic had arguably his worst game of the season in this one, scoring just 11 points on seven shot attempts against a Lakers defense determined not to let the three-time MVP have his way against them, as he has so often in the past.
After the game, some doubt was cast as to how legitimate the Nuggets’ recent winning streak really was, especially considering that the teams they faced during that stretch weren’t exactly the cream of the crop in the NBA.
Jokic himself echoed those sentiments in his postgame press conference.
“We had the 9-game winning streak against teams that were injured and teams that were not really good or high in the standings. So maybe we tricked ourselves in that we are playing good,” said Jokic, Guerilla Sports on X, formerly Twitter.
A tough day at the office for Denver
Almost immediately, the Los Angeles Lakers began double and triple teaming Nikola Jokic every time the Nuggets star touched the ball on Saturday in an effort to make Denver’s supporting cast try to beat them.
For a while, this worked out OK for the Nuggets, as Jokic consistently found players like Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter Jr. open for easy looks at the rim. However, as the game wore on, the Lakers began to frustrate the MVP, which was compounded by Los Angeles’ hot shooting on the other end of the floor.
The good news for the Nuggets is that they still sit in second place in the Western Conference, and still have won 13 out of their last 15 against the Lakers. While Jokic’s performance wasn’t ideal on Saturday, it was more than likely just a blip on the radar on what could be yet another MVP season for the Joker.
In any case, the Nuggets will next take the floor on Monday evening on the road vs the Indiana Pacers. That game is slated to tip off at 7:00 PM ET.
The post Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic gets brutally honest on being ‘tricked’ by 9-game winning streak appeared first on ClutchPoints.
