Nikola Jokic Speaks on Nuggets Atrocious Game 4 Shooting in Loss

The Nuggets and Thunder had an unbelievably bad shooting night in Game 4 and for Jokic personally, he’s on an usually bad run himself.

Jokic finished the loss with 27 points but was 7-22 from the floor and had just three assists all game – a postseason low. He also missed two crucial free throws with less than four minutes left to play in the game which was very uncharacteristic for the three-time MVP.

Over the past three games, Jokic has shot 33.3% – he first time in his career that he’s shot worse than 40 percent with at least 15 attempts in three consecutive games (regular season or playoffs.)

“It’s a little bit of everything,” said Jokic. “They’re playing really good defense on me. They’re really into my body, physical. I think I missed two or three open looks night, so it’s a little bit of everything. They’re shrinking the floor on me. They’re having a guy behind the defender, so it’s a bit of everything. I need to do a better job, of course, but it’s part of the game.”

Isaiah Hartenstein was a key player in Jokic’s demise, since the big man was just 3-10 when Hartenstein was the primary defender in Game 4.

“We’re just really just focused on how to execute as a team,” Hartenstein said. “He’s a great player. We know he is going to make tough shots throughout the series, but we’ve just got to stay disciplined. I think that’s the biggest key. We’ve been doing a great job staying disciplined, great job playing team defense. Again, he’s a great player, so he is going to make shots eventually.”

In the first half, both teams combined to shoot 6-44 from three – the 13.6 percent 3PT was the worst combined in a playoff half in the 21st century. Yikes.

Fatigue was a factor for both teams, Nuggets interim coach David Adelman believes.

“I think that both teams were very tired coming off an unbelievably physical overtime battle on a late Friday night,” Adelman said. “If it affected us, it surely affected them as well. Both of us had super tired legs.”