Watch Pelicans @ Nuggets live on Sky Sports Action in the early hours of Boxing Day morning (3:30am)
Wednesday 25 December 2019 00:01, UK
Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic says he feels he is "coming back" to the form that earned him an All-Star selection in 2018-19.
Ahead of the Denver Nuggets' Christmas Day clash with the New Orleans Pelicans, live on Sky Sports Action in the early hours of Boxing Day morning, Nikola Jokic offered his thoughts on his performance this year and an assessment of his team's progress this season.
How do you see things going for you so far and for the Nuggets?
Jokic: I think we are having a good season. I think our expectations that we give ourselves are really high, and that we want to accomplish something, so that's why I think there's a little pressure. There's - all of us, we miss shots, we struggle a bit - but at the end of the day, I think it's a really good season for us so far.
We are top four in the West, so we are playing good. We can be, of course, better, but we could be worse, too. Me personally, I think we have so much time left in the season, but I think I'm coming back to [how I was playing] last year.
How have you brought out the best in your game in the NBA when so many players rely on athleticism and you have to use skill and smarts and other things to try and overcome that?
Jokic: I think I brought something different to the NBA. I brought that I can do pretty much everything on the floor. I think it's not just me. I think there is a lot of guys in the NBA that - just kind of big men in the NBA that can affect the game in so many ways.
But to be honest, I'm playing like this since I was little. I was always really good with the ball, I was always passing the ball, scoring, shooting the ball. I think for me, that's just a normal thing.
Then Coach [Michael Malone], of course, gives me a freedom and an opportunity to play my game and he started liking it and team-mates started liking it and we started winning games. I think that's kind of the answer - Coach gave me the freedom and I didn't stop playing how I'm playing my whole life.
Do you feel the need to save energy mentally or physically before the playoffs and the competition for the NBA title?
Jokic: No. I think that you cannot do that. I think how the NBA works for me, how I think the NBA works, every game is important. The win in November is the same in May.
Like because we are the Denver Nuggets and we made the playoffs two years ago by one game, for me there is no easy game. There is no, 'I'm going to skip this one' or 'I'm not going to play hard in this one'.
I think you cannot think that way. Champions are not thinking like that. We as a team, as a group, we need to go out there every game and every day to do our best and try to win our games.
You guys are currently ranked second in defensive rating. You're known more as an offensive player, but what's been the key to your success and the team's success on that end of the floor so far this season?
Jokic: That's an easy answer, just because it's the same team. We have the same coverages, same routine, same system - we are playing the same system four years.
In terms of winning games, we know we need to play good on that end of the floor.
What has Mike Malone added to this team as a coach to make them a consistent top-five team in a stacked Western Conference?
Jokic: He asks us a lot of times, like you can see him talk to players, 'What do you think about this? What do you think about that?' He knows we are the players, that we see something different.
He always has a good play, but sometimes he just asks us what you want to run, what you like. He trusts us a lot, just because this is my fifth year with him, so we go together, we know each other a little bit, so just the trust that he had with us, it's huge. It means a lot to me and the guys.
Do you guys feel underrated in the NBA community?
Jokic: It's just something that… you cannot let that affect, [whether people see you as] an underdog or a favourite. We like where we are right now. We don't think about anybody else with the media or other teams that think about us. Like we just think about ourselves.
I think that's the goal for us because last year we were doing that and we were making playoffs. We were winning the first round. To be honest, if we're underdogs, we like it; if we're favourites, I like it. It's something that you cannot let affect you.
Talk a little bit about your relationship with Danilo Gallinari and how much he helped you establish yourself in the NBA.
Jokic: I was playing with Gallo and that was a fun year. It's always good to see old team-mates and just to see them playing well.
Of course Gallo, he gave me a little bit of grief. I think against Toronto my first year I scored like 27 or 28 points or 29 points, and he said, 'you showed everybody that you can do it, now you need to do it every night'.
Really good advice if you think about it.
