Nikola Jokic did his best Michael Porter Jr. impression so that both could finally rest.
Jokic was averaging 39.2 minutes, almost five more per game than his previous season average. Porter was averaging 37.8 minutes, six more than his. They’ve been Denver’s two workhorses on a depth-deprived roster. With Jamal Murray in concussion protocol for the second leg of a back-to-back Saturday night, the onus was on them even more.
The Nuggets only led 81-68 with five minutes remaining in the third quarter against a winless Utah Jazz team — not enough of a cushion for the starters to clock out early. Then in a matter of three minutes, Jokic buried three 3-pointers from three different locations: the top of the key, the wing and the corner.
“That was lovely,” Porter said, smiling, after watching the entire fourth quarter of Denver’s 129-103 win from the bench.
The Nuggets have been roundly scrutinized, internally and externally, for their 3-point shooting options early in the new season. Jokic himself declared them “not a good shooting team” after just one game, a 7-for-39 performance on opening day at Ball Arena. He labeled Porter and Murray as the only two consistently reliable threats from deep. Both had an inefficient first weekend.
“If those couple of games at the beginning came in January, I don’t think anyone would have been too alarmed,” Porter said Saturday at Ball Arena. “So I didn’t really care.”
The Nuggets’ 3-point weaponry hasn’t been as dire as it seemed that night against the Thunder when their volume of attempts was high but their efficiency was atrocious. Since then, the team’s numbers have unfolded more accordingly with its past trend: low volume, high efficiency. Denver is 43.2% from outside excluding the opener, but on just 29.2 attempts in those five games. Overall, the Nuggets rank second-to-last in attempts ahead of the Lakers.
“With our personnel, I think I should be aiming to get six to eight, sometimes nine 3s up,” Porter said Saturday. “I think Jamal will have to take a few more. I think Nikola being willing to just let it fly sometimes will be big for us. And then Julian shooting off the bench. Just because teams are shooting more and more 3s, we’ve gotta try to shoot more, I think.”
Porter’s season clip is only 37.5% so far, but he’s 50% since the Nuggets left Denver for their first road trip. His average attempts are at 6.7, firmly within the range of his stated goal.
But Jokic has ironically been the main perimeter revelation since his opening-night comment. He is 16 for 27 on the season (59.3%), a stat that elicited a “really?” from Porter. The Nuggets even tried an after-timeout play call in Toronto that was designed to get Jokic an open 3-point look — a clear reaction to his career-high seven 3s the previous game.
His barrage late in the third quarter Saturday was essential beyond the box score. After four consecutive games that came down to the final minute and two that required overtime, Denver’s starting lineup needs every breather it can get. Jokic saved himself, Porter and Aaron Gordon at least five or six extra minutes of playing time. He accomplished it by burying jumpers everywhere, in every way: spotting up or pulling up.
“You’ve gotta think, it’s not a 6-foot-3 guy closing out on him either,” Julian Strawther said. “It’s a 7-footer with a 7-5 wingspan every time. That’s just who (Jokic) is. Everybody in the world knows how amazing he is, and he still finds a way to shock everybody every night.”
Strawther is not as concerned with the team’s overall volume. In fact, the 22-year-old has been intentional about not overdoing it early in the season despite having been the second unit’s only efficient scorer (47.1% from three after a 3-for-6 night against Utah).
“I feel like there’s also just a balance for myself, just trying to find the right shots and not force anything. I could easily go out there and get up seven, eight, nine 3s a night,” Strawther said. “And they’d probably be a bunch of ill-advised shots. And I thought that’s something I did even my rookie year: Take a bunch of ill-advised shots. Like I keep telling y’all, my main point of emphasis is just to continue to stay efficient. And just be a guy that is known for staying efficient. … Our volume isn’t necessarily something that we’re just gonna go out there and chuck a bunch of shots.”
Jokic’s outlandish efficiency is certain to regress even if he stays relatively hot. Any 60% clip is naturally an anomaly — in the same way the Nuggets’ season-opening stat line seemed to be one big anomaly. Still, it’s encouraging that Denver has four 3-point shooters exceeding 40%, and even more so that none of them are Porter or Murray.
Christian Braun has improved to 42.1% on low attempts. And Gordon is punishing scouting reports for daring him to chuck. He torched Minnesota for 31 points Friday, helping him to a 55% season clip beyond the arc.
The power forward doesn’t even have a specific number of reps or makes that he aims for when he begins a shooting workout. “I just shoot way too much,” he told The Post this week. “It’s just however I’m feeling.”
That seems to be the Nuggets’ general approach to their number of attempts any given game. In Toronto, they ended up taking only 20 en route to a win. In Minnesota, they crushed the Timberwolves in the paint early in the game, but it didn’t matter because the Wolves kept up entirely from 3-point range.
“I don’t think we can get that number (of attempts) up,” Michael Malone acknowledged. But the 10th-year coach has also been well aware of opponents sagging off several of his perimeter players.
“Getting more makes,” Malone said, “is more of a priority for me.”
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