Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James, left, drives to the basket against Denver Nuggets’ Jusuf Nurkic as Tristan Thompson watches in the first half Monday night. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)
The duo of young bigs, Jusuf Nurkic and Nikola Jokic, is on the shortlist of combinations hardcore Nuggets observers want to see most on the court together.
Yet, if there is a combination Nuggets coach Michael Malone isn’t breaking his back to re-jigger the lineup to see, it’s the combination of Jusuf Nurkic and Nikola Jokic on the court together. Until Monday night, the two had seen all of four minutes of shared court time this season.
But a Bigfoot sighting happened in the Nuggets’ loss to the Cavaliers on Monday. Nurkic and Jokic played. On the court. Together. It lasted seven minutes, and, well, it had its good and bad aspects.
What Happened: In seven minutes, the pair combined to score 11 points on 4-of-9 from the field, 0-of-1 from the 3-point line and 3-of-3 from the free throw line. They grabbed a total of five rebounds, none on the offensive glass, and had two assists. The pair committed three turnovers, three personal fouls and drew two personals. The Nuggets were a -8 when Jokic and Nurkic were on the court.
Why it Struggled: The short answer is because the opponent was superior. Cleveland, at this point, is just a better team.
But getting beyond that…
The biggest concern with that configuration, which puts Jokic at the power forward, is Jokic’s ability to guard that position. Players at the four are quicker than ever before, and many can shoot out to the 3-point line, which at this point presents challenges to Jokic, who isn’t exactly fleet of foot. Even Channing Frye, the aging Cavaliers big man who won’t be confused with Usain Bolt anytime soon, presented problems.
First, on a pick-and-pop 3-pointer with 10 minutes to go in the third. Although, in Jokic’s defense, the Frye and J.R. Smith pick-and-roll that created the look might have been problematic for anyone. Frye’s screen was solid, knocking Emmanuel Mudiay way off the path and forcing Jokic to have to stay longer than he would have liked in covering the lane. Smith flipped a pass back to Frye for a wide open three, which he buried as Jokic sprinted out to contest.
Frye’s next bucket was a bigger red flag. Frye caught the ball at the 3-point line and gave the slightest head fake. Jokic got too aggressive with the closeout and Frye, who never blows by anyone, blew by him for a layup.
Final Analysis: Incomplete. Things that did work well mostly occurred offensively. There was good high-low passing between the two. A Nurkic-to-Jokic dime for a layup with 8:14 left in the third was a good example of that. Both scored on post-ups; Nurkic’s came off of triangle action. But the offense overall was slow with them on the court, and that was a big problem, especially against a quick Cavs unit.
If the Nuggets were to experiment with it again, players at the point, shooting guard and small forward positions all must be quick and athletic. On Monday, the Nuggets had Darrell Arthur, normally a power forward, playing small forward in that lineup. As both Jokic and Nurkic get stronger, quicker and more experienced this will be worth additional looks, but it was a bit rough at The Q.
Follow Chris Dempsey on Twitter @dempseypost or email him at cdempsey@denverpost.com
