Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets remains one of the best basketball players in the world, but the Oklahoma City Thunder have found a way to minimize him.
Jokic had a tough shooting performance on Sunday, going just 7-of-22 from the field during his team’s 92-87 loss.
Following his team’s important win, big man Isaiah Hartenstein talked about Jokic and how he can never be counted out, even on a bad night.
“[Nikola Jokic]’s a great player,” Hartenstein said. “We know he is going to make tough shots throughout the series, but we’ve just got to stay disciplined. I think that’s the biggest key. We’ve been doing a great job staying disciplined, great job playing team defense. Again, he’s a great player, so he is going to make shots eventually.”
Hartenstein has seemingly done the impossible: turned Jokic into an offensive liability for the Nuggets.
According to ESPN, Jokic was just 3-of-10 when Hartenstein defended him in Game 4.
It wasn’t just Hartenstein who limited Jokic, who had a particularly bad fourth quarter when the Nuggets needed a big rally.
Denver is tired, and their big man has been through a lot lately.
However, he said that he doesn’t feel fatigued even though he played for 43 minutes on Sunday and 44 minutes in Game 3.
Hartenstein knows that Jokic isn’t doing great right now, but he feels it is just a matter of time before he rebounds.
He said he will “make shots eventually,” which means the Thunder are expecting a big performance from Jokic soon.
He is doing a great job guarding him right now, but is waiting for the superstar to have a bounce-back game.
NEXT: Mark Daigneault Sends Strong Message To Thunder Amid Tight Series
