At his media availability prior to the game, Nuggets head coach Michael Malone was asked to discuss Nikola Jokic and the deficiencies of the team’s offense.
The seasoned veteran’s response was flawless: “I would never ask him to do it,” he said, of referencing the triple-double that Jokic put up in the Nuggets’ October 26th win against the Brooklyn Nets. “But if he’s going to come in and do that, we should be able to make plays for him in a better way.”
After playing one of the most important roles in the Nuggets comeback on Thursday, the team’s play was much more stagnant during a 16-point blowout at the hands of the Pelicans on Sunday. In the New Orleans locker room following the loss, a very defeated and tired-looking Anthony Davis said of the team’s “empty” play: “The biggest issue was a lack of focus and effort.”
A reporter later asked: “In what situations, [Did your team’s effort] get to a certain point where you said, ‘This is almost embarrassing’?”
Davis said: “It was pretty embarrassing for everyone in this locker room to make a game that we really felt like we should have had, like a great victory over a very good team. At the end of the day, we are a very good team, we should take care of home court.”