Nikola Jokic went off yet again on Monday night against the Miami Heat. The Denver Nuggets superstar dropped 41 points in Game 2, but in the end, it just wasn't enough to lift his team against a relentless Heat side, who have now tied this series at 1-1.
As it turns out, Jokic scoring in bunches isn't necessarily a good thing for the Nuggets. So much so, that Denver is now 0-3 in the NBA Playoffs whenever the former back-to-back MVP scores at least 40 points in a game:
The Nuggets are 0-3 this postseason when Nikola Jokic scores 40+ points (finished with 41 points in Game 2). They are 13-1 when he scores fewer than 40.
Those three losses in 40-point games are tied for the most by any player in a postseason in NBA history. pic.twitter.com/ug5NEYFM1v
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) June 5, 2023
That's shocking. Whenever Jokic scores fewer than 40 points, the Nuggets win almost every time. This only goes to show how his value does not lie purely in his scoring. Denver needs Jokic to score, but whenever he does it too much, they lose. What's crazy is he has some good company:
Nikola Jokic becomes just the 5th player in NBA playoff history to record at least 3 games of 40+ points and lose all 3 games in a single postseason 😳
The others?
– Jerry West (1965)
– Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1977)
– LeBron James (2009)
– Luka Doncic (2022)(via @Stathead) pic.twitter.com/sSgUds3KeC
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) June 5, 2023
It is also worth noting that the Heat limited Jokic to just four assists in Game 2. They forced him to be a scorer in this one, and the tactic worked to perfection for them. Nikola Jokic is as well-rounded a player as there is right now, and Miami knows that they have to stop him one way or another. On Sunday, they let him loose in the scoring department by limiting his playmaking abilities. This has to be another feather in the cap of Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, who has been able to make another massive adjustment after a loss.
These two teams do it all over again in Game 3 on Wednesday, and it will be very interesting to see which Nikola Jokic we see in that one.
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