Minutes without Nikola Jokic have become too predictable for Nuggets

The Denver Nuggets are lost during the minutes without Nikola Jokic.

This isn’t a new trend, but it feels like it’s showing itself more than ever.

Fans of the Nuggets have dreaded for years the 8-10 minutes per game Jokic is on the bench. It’s nervous time. Denver is inevitably going to blow a lead or find itself further in the hole. They overcame it to win a championship in 2023, but it feels like this team can’t take home another title unless Jokic somehow plays 48 minutes per game.

And that’s obviously not going to happen, nor is it sustainable or realistic. Still, head coach Michael Malone has become too predictable in his rotations and it’s hurting the Nuggets.

Take Sunday’s frustrating loss to the Celtics for example. In a national TV showdown for the whole country to watch on a weekend afternoon, Boston’s Jaylen Brown told ABC’s Lisa Salters something fascinating before the fourth quarter. He said the non-Jokic minutes were coming up and the Celtics needed to take advantage.

Like clockwork, they did.

DeAndre Jordan is a good locker room guy, but he’s not a legitimate option in crunch time against the defending champs. Jordan had an awful stretch in place of Jokic, both on offense and defense, and the Nuggets went from down four points to down 10 in the blink of an eye.

Malone called timeout, finally got Jokic back in the game with 7:41 to go, and Denver began to claw back. Unfortunately, 102-99 was as close as they’d get before falling by a final score of 110-103. The Celtics built enough of a cushion with Jokic on the bench, something Brown openly admitted they must do, then held on because the deficit was too big to overcome.

Again, this isn’t suggesting Malone should never rest Nikola Jokic — he has to. But it is wondering if the start of the second quarter and the start of the fourth quarter are too obvious. Every game it’s the same, and every time the opponent jumps at the chance.

On Sunday, the Nuggets were -7 in Jordan’s nine minutes. They were even in Jokic’s 39 minutes. Boom, that’s the game right there.

Yes, Denver didn’t have Aaron Gordon available, and a banged up Zeke Nnaji only got eight minutes, but as they fight for the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference this was an agonizing game to lose. With all due respect to Jordan, him being the best option at backup center in a critical game is a failure by GM Calvin Booth.

Offseason signing Dario Saric has been an absolute bust, barely ever seeing the floor. Even in blowouts, Malone refuses to put him in. Imagine having the best player on Earth for five years now and never acquiring a legitimate backup center who can keep games afloat for just a handful of minutes? That’s a shame and a complete failure by the entire front office.

For the rest of the regular season, Malone needs to do something different. He should pull Nikola Jokic with four minutes to go in the first quarter and four minutes to go in the third quarter. Those are his two rest spots and then he should play the entire second quarter and the entire fourth quarter.

In fact, Denver is 7-2 over its last nine games in which Jokic plays the whole fourth quarter, with the sample size dating back to November of 2022.

The momentum for the Nuggets always gets zapped when Jokic is on the bench, and it’s too critical going into halftime or down the stretch for Jokic to be out of the contest in the second and fourth. Do it at the end of the first and third, and it’ll easily add a couple of wins in the final 21 games and into the postseason.

Nikola Jokic is an unreal basketball player. But even he can’t be on the court every waking moment to bail Denver out. In the offseason, finding a backup center remains a top priority.

In the meantime, Malone needs to make a tweak. It could be the difference between a parade this summer and another frustrating playoff exit.