“Basically, I was the worst player on the court today,” Nikola Jokic admitted bluntly after the Nuggets’ Game 3 win over OKC. Despite Denver taking the W, the Serbian big man was visibly frustrated — and with reason. The Thunder’s tight defense smothered Jokic’s rhythm, holding him to 8-of-25 shooting (32.0%) and a brutal 0-of-10 from beyond the arc, despite him finishing with 20 points.

So naturally, when the Nuggets dropped Game 4 and Jokic once again struggled to get going offensively, fans were eager to hear how he’d react this time. Fortunately, the 3x MVP didn’t keep us waiting.

During the post-game presser, Nikola Jokic was asked about what he felt the Thunder squad was doing well against him. With a distinct set of double teams thrown at him at several moments, how is his shooting affected? The Serbian candidly replied that it was a little bit of everything. After all, “It’s…. they’re physical, they’re handy, they’re coming, they’re really…. they’re good with help, and sometimes, I just cannot make a shot”. From the looks of it, OKC exploited the same strategy against the Joker that they used in Game 3. Only this time, it was more effective, as Jokic’s inability to score resulted in the Nuggets’ loss.

“Uh so it’s a little bit of everything right now,” said Jokic. “So, like, I think I had like a hook, um, at four quarter. I had a open hook. I messed two free throws, big two free throws I missed. We were down four. If I made it, We were down two, One possession game. So they score after that. So it’s a six points, two possession game, or even more. So, like, I think we had the chances we had a lot of…. we just didn’t…. we didn’t basically…. we didn’t make shots”.

After Game 3, Nikola Jokic had made similar claims, by stating “They’re aggressive. They are physical. They are handsy. They’re in the shrink. They’re playing passing lanes, you know”. Admitting that he didn’t know what the OKC squad was doing, leading to those mistakes. This led to him to say “So, I need to figure out what they’re doing”. Unfortunately, the star player does not seem to have figured it out in time, having led to another poor performance.

Shooting just 30% from the field, hitting only 4 of his last 22 three-point attempts, and averaging 21.3 points over the past three games — it’s clear Nikola Jokic hasn’t been playing at his MVP level. Game 1 was a reminder of what he’s capable of: a monstrous 42-point, 22-rebound display that had Oklahoma City scrambling for answers. But since then, the Thunder have adjusted — and it’s worked.

As revealed by ‘The Athletic’ reporter Tony Jones, Isaiah Hartenstein and Chet Holmgren placed a “terrific” point-of-attack defense on Jokić in isolation. To complement those two. OKC has been using Jaylin Williams to come in and push Jokic around physically. The squad waits until Jokić puts the ball on the floor, and then sends double-teams with Lu Dort, Cason Wallace and Alex Caruso.

As a result, OKC has been successful in taking away spacing in the paint. Russell Westbrook is left wide open on the perimeter. Every fan of his would know how things can falter when he has to shoot. This defensive strategy has finally managed to bring the 3x MVP down.

The Denver Nuggets have slowly caught up to this. Therefore, going forward, they look to make some changes.

Aaron Gordon and co look to fix things for Nikola Jokic amid shooting issue: “we just got to be ready to make shots”

The media didn’t only question Nikola Jokic after the Game 4 loss. Both Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon also indulged in a Q&A session with the reporters. Jamal Murray openly set the Nuggets’ issues to shooting, stating “Um, it was a close game, the whole game. Um, I thought we missed some bunnies, thought we got really good looks, and sometimes you just don’t make the shots that you get”. He added that “for the most part, but, you know, one of the rare times, uh, we miss too many shots to win the game”.

Aaron Gordon also said that the Nuggets “got stagnant on offense”. Therefore, that is certainly the key issue to fix. After all, if other players improve on the offensive front, it can remove some of the pressure from Nikola Jokic’s side too.

“Well, they’re loading up on him. They’re doubling them and tilting or taking me away in the dunker,” said Gordon about Nikola Jokic. “So, we just got to be ready to make shots. He’s going to make the right play over and over and over again. So, um, what’s going to help him is when we do make shots, and we space the floor for him. Um, yeah”.

With both the OKC and Denver Nuggets tied 2-2, we could be looking at another series that might go to Game 7. It was already believed that a franchise like the Oklahoma City Thunder, which secured the best win record of the 2024-25 season, would be hard to defeat.

Fortunately, 2 defeats have been enough to make Nikola Jokic and co aware of where they are going wrong. Therefore, with any luck, we could be seeing a more efficient Nuggets squad in Game 5.