Despite missing their stars, Golden State closed the game on a 24-8 run. Meanwhile, the Denver Nuggets watched another game slip by, and the loss means they are 14-15 in clutch games this season. Despite a monster triple-double from Nikola Jokic, his turnover problems still persist, and there is a reason for it.

“He’s not the type of guy who’s going to tell you. You don’t even think anything’s wrong with him”, said ESPN’s Marc J. Spears on NBA Today. “But since the Clippers game on February 19th, he’s really been hampered by a right wrist shooting hand injury. And you could look at his numbers and say, ‘What are you talking about?’ Well, the turnovers are high. He’s had 13 turnovers in the last three games. Certainly not quite himself.

So I think he’s also putting pressure on himself to be in a Nuggets uniform to keep them afloat, and especially after missing as many games as he did. And so yeah, I think he’s going to fight through this injury and just keep playing.”

Behind the 35 points, 20 rebounds, and 12 assists performance, there were 5 turnovers on the night, which were the underlying problem. Denver opened up a 5-point lead almost midway through the fourth quarter and appeared to finally be in control of the game. Then, without Stephen Curry, Kristaps Porzingis, and Draymond Green, Warriors star Brandin Podziemski stepped up with a three-pointer to take a three-point lead.

In order to up the pace, the Joker conceded the ball to the Golden State, as the Nuggets failed to come close in a 128-117 loss. It’s not clear when Nikola Jokic suffered the wrist injury, but this issue is not new for Denver.

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Against the Clippers, the 2x MVP was worse throughout the evening with 22 points and 6 assists compared to 6 turnovers. In fact, the Nuggets superstar shot 0-of-6 from three and was consistently short on his jump shots. This was a week ago, but two weeks ago against the Cavaliers, the turnover problem was again this bad.

He committed seven of the team’s 13 turnovers, most of them on inaccurate or forced passes. The sloppy error led to a game-tying 3-pointer from James Harden, and eventually a 119-117 Nuggets loss in the last second. On paper, this is the best team Jokic has ever had; there’s no excuse for what has been happening. But multiple reasons, like being rusty after missing 16 straight with a knee injury. Or the pain from the wrist injury is making it worse. Anyways something needs to change.

David Adelman speaks about Nikola Jokic’s issue

Jokic’s leading the league in assists, but he’s also tasked to find looks for guys like Spencer Jones and Julian Strawther. Even with this caveat, any chink in the Joker’s performance is not unnoticed. The Nuggets star, who is usually nonchalant, expressed concerns.

“I’m definitely concerned, because we are losing the games. We are losing the games, and we are not creating open looks. So that’s something that we need to change. I don’t know what it is, but we need to figure it out.”

Even the head coach spoke about the issue. But his point of concern wasn’t just lackluster ball control, but more importantly, their lack of energy that was on display. “Yeah, we didn’t take care of the ball. I thought we had some empty possessions that, even though they weren’t turnovers, led to poor shots and run-outs for them. So really poor execution throughout the start of the fourth, but the bottom line is this game came down to the start of the game,” Adelman said post-game.

After a back-to-back, fresh out of the All-Star break, to then playing an early tip-off game on Sunday on the road, it’s easy to see how Denver was a bit low on gas before the game even started. But Nikola Jokic took ownership and felt that a change was needed after an embarrassing loss.