The Nuggets and Thunder had an unbelievably bad shooting night in Game 4, and for Jokic personally, he’s on an unusually 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% – the 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 tonight, 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 struggles, as the big man was just 3-10 when Hartenstein was the primary defender in Game 4.
“We’re just really 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 and 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.”
