To the delight of Nuggets fans, it has now become routine for Nikola Jokic to put in dominant performances, and he had yet another in Denver’s 125-117 road win over the Indiana Pacers on Friday, scoring 30 points on 12-18 shooting, along with 17 rebounds, 5 assists, and a steal.
However, as Jokic has emerged as Denver’s best player, teams have started making more concerted efforts to prevent the Nuggets offense from being run through him, using a combination of double teams and clogging the paint to close off lanes to cutters. This was especially evident in the Nuggets’ two recent losses to the Houston Rockets, who clearly had prioritized containing Jokic in their defensive game plan.