Denver Nuggets: 3 takeaways from pivotal Game 5 win vs. Blazers
1. Keep Jokic rolling
At the end of the day, the Nuggets will live and die by Nikola Jokic. In Game 5, he turned in a physically dominant performance that further put the rumors behind him about being too out of shape to play extended minutes in the playoffs.
His 25 points led the team and were a game-high. When he’s feeling it, the team feeds off of his energy, which gets the crowd involved. The Nuggets got Millsap rolling early in Game 5, but they need to keep letting the Joker roll as he’s done all postseason.
Nikola Jokic's 25 PTS, 19 REB & 6 AST and Paul Millsap's 24 PTS & 8 REB propel the @nuggets to a Game 5 victory, taking a 3-2 series lead! #MileHighBasketball #NBAPlayoffs
— NBA (@NBA) May 8, 2019
Game 6: Thursday (5/9), 10:30pm/et, ESPN pic.twitter.com/ZivPv5Zu4Z
He’s averaging a near triple-double in the playoffs, and he’s doing it with great efficiency at the same time. He’s shooting 50.5 percent from the field to go with an 85.7 percent mark at the free throw line. Even his 3-point mark is solid, with a 38.3 percent mark from downtown. When he’s playing at this level, it just makes life easier on all of the guys around him.
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Portland doesn’t have a defender that can capably guard Jokic every time down the floor. It’s such a tough ask of anyone, and with Jusuf Nurkic out for the year, Rip City has one less body to throw at him. Whether Jokic is attacking from up top or down on the block, the Nuggets have to continue to feed him and run the offense through him. Good things have happened all year when they’ve done it, and there’s no reason to go away from it in a closeout Game 6 on the road.