Elbow inflammation sidelined Nikola Jokic on Thursday, and the effect of his absence was as expected for the Nuggets; a debilitating loss to the Rockets at home. The irony was that he couldn’t even show up for tipoff, what with him catching the injury bug during warmups. And, immediately, his teammates wound up playing catch-up ball; apart from a 3-3 tie, they were on the wrong end of the score until the final buzzer. Which was why a number of observers could not quite fathom how and why estimation of his worth seemed to have gone down in the eyes of the media, whose members just so happen to vote for the Most Valuable Player award.
Perhaps it was too much to expect the Nuggets to keep pace with the Rockets, currently second in the highly competitive West without Jokic on tap. Not that they were bad. For the match, they shot a more than respectable 53.3% from the field, and made close to half their attempts from three-point territory. Their numbers were, no doubt, a reflection of the return to form of starting guard Jamal Murray, who had hitherto been unable to live up to a whopping four-year, $208-million contract extension in the offseason. Unfortunately, their lack of a stable frontline — with Aaron Gordon likewise convalescing — told on their competitiveness.
Indeed, defense was where the Nuggets stood wanting. Beyond Jokic’s near triple-double average for the 2024-25 campaign to date is his role as their defensive anchor, which their platoon of warm bodies could not fulfill on Thursday. And as good as Russell Westbrook may have been of late, the willingness of the spirit ultimately failed to offset the weakness of the flesh. The Rockets pounded the ball with trademark physicality and saw little to no opposition, hence the heightened frequency in getting leather and nylon to meet.
If there’s anything Thursday’s debacle has underscored, it’s that the Nuggets are able to take the measure of the best of the best only because of Jokic. Without him, they invariably scrape the bottom of the barrel. His influence on both ends of the court is simply too much to make up for by the rest of the blue, yellow, and red. He supplies the sauce that makes the ingredients work. Murray or no, Gordon or no, Westbrook or no, he doesn’t only make the difference; he is the difference.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and human resources management, corporate communications, and business development.