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Portland’s late surge shifted the momentum for good. The 31-year-old center explained that giving away extra possessions is dangerous against modern NBA offenses, especially with teams shooting so heavily from deep. “The league is so talented that you cannot give the other team so many possessions,” he stressed. At 3–3 to start the 2026–27 NBA Regular Season, Jokic was asked about the team’s new identity. “I think when we’re playing good, it’s really good, and when we’re playing bad, it’s really bad,” he observed. “We cannot find consistency.”
Bennet Durando: FWIW, asked David Adelman if he’s concerned at all by Nikola Jokic’s slow shooting start (5/23 from 3 in particular, exacerbating Denver’s spacing issues caused by no Cam Johnson): “I don’t see anything mechanical. He hasn’t complained about any discomfort or anything like that.”
The Serbian center has made numerous past comments expressing a sort of fondness for how ruthless European basketball fans are. As recently as this preseason, he said: “I wish every player in NBA should go play, like, six months in Europe just to see how (much) pressure it is to play.” In an exchange with The Denver Post on Monday, he was asked about that sentiment in relation to his condemnation of the Ball Arena boos. “I just said what I said,” Jokic answered. “It’s not something that — I’m sticking to what I said. I played in a much worse environment in (Europe). I played in front of 10 people, 50 people, 100 people, 150,000 people, whatever. I didn’t play in front of 150,000 people. Like, 10,000, 15,000. And I’m not used to the fans booing their own team.”
So is the difference, in his experience, that European fans direct their vitriol entirely at the opponent, and never at the home team? “I’ve never heard (of fans doing) that,” Jokic repeated. “I mean, probably, they are. But I think they are not real fans.”
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Jokic wasn’t alone in his frustration. Multiple team sources have told The Denver Post that they felt like a home opener was too soon for fans to boo a new version of the team. Players were largely taken aback by the reception.
NBA Courtside: Draymond Green says he agrees with Nikola Jokic when he says the fans don’t need to come to the games no more if they going to be booing their team: “Why are you here? Like you’re really not on our side if you start booing us this fast. Like you’ve come in here with a predetermined mindset already. And if you’ve come in here with a predetermined mindset, that mindset for you to be booing us it’s very pessimistic. It’s very negative. So stay your a** at home. So I agree with Joker on this and it looked like he was dead a**. I hear people the reports in the background laughing. He is not laughing. He is dead serious.”
Speaking to reporters at his postgame news conference, Jokic sternly rebuked Nuggets fans who booed the team amid its struggles in the first half of its home opener. Denver trailed 53-30 in the second quarter and went into halftime down 73-57 before it mounted its remarkable comeback. "We got booed at our first home game, and I think those fans who booed us, they don't need to come anymore," Jokic said. "If you guys follow us, you know that we never quit and we've come back from much worse situations. So, if they ask me, they are not welcome anymore."
When asked whether fans should still cheer for the team despite poor play, Jokić said yes. "If they are Nuggets fans, they should support us," Jokić said.
Word on Thunder: Aday Mara on playing against Wemby and Jokic: “It’s pretty crazy because the last two games were against Wembanyama, and tonight was Jokić. Which is crazy because Jokić is one of my favorite players, if not my favorite player. So I haven’t really thought about it yet, but it’s pretty crazy to play against those guys that I’ve watched on TV. Once I get to the court, I feel pretty comfortable.”
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"What was going through your head when you were left alone in the locker room with the trophy?" Nikola Jokić: "I often stay alone in the locker room because I have my own routine. I do some work in the training room, some stretching, and I have a cold tub. So I really need time, and when we are on the road, everyone is waiting for me. But I often say that it is one of the most beautiful feelings when you stay alone in the locker room when all the noise is gone and when everyone is gone, and you stay somehow alone for two, three, five, 10, 15, 20 minutes. Some feelings and some emotions somehow gather and it becomes a really beautiful moment. But I also had that feeling then. The job is done, somehow the relief is greater than the euphoria. I felt more relief than euphoria. I won, I said, 'Ugh, we won.' I felt like I took a burden off my back."
Greivis Vasquez: “International players have become much more prominent nowadays because, in our countries, we play with a different sense of purpose. Here, there are different rules now when it comes to NIL, which allows amateur players, college players and student-athletes to get paid. That makes players lose a little bit of their love for the game. “I played basketball because I wanted respect, but more than anything, I wanted to buy my mom a house. I had a purpose. “International players today play basketball with a purpose. They come in with better fundamentals and a higher basketball IQ, and that’s why the NBA’s most recent MVPs have been international players. “Right now, the best player in the world, in my opinion, is Nikola Jokic. You’re talking about Victor Wembanyama, who could become the face of the league. You’re talking about Giannis Antetokounmpo and Luka Doncic.”
What are the things that you’ve learned with managing the second unit and then the times you get to play with Nikola Jokic and Aaron Gordon? Tyus Jones: “I think it’s the system, where guys are supposed to be and where guys like to be. I learned different actions that each person likes to run, how each person succeeds and how the team succeeds. As a point guard, you got to get familiar with that stuff and you got to understand it like the back of your hand. That just comes with time and comes with reps. So I’m feeling more comfortable going into the season with those types of things. There was a lot on my plate [last season]. That comes with it. So you just have to figure it out as best as you can. They tried to not overload me with too much on my plate. When I was out there, they tried to help me keep it simple. But I wasn’t playing too much. So a lot of it was just watching and observing and trying to learn and download everything. But it was good. It was definitely a helpful time for me now that I’m going into this season.”
Given there has been so much roster fluidity since the Nuggets’ 2023 NBA title run with roster turnover and injuries, what can you and the rest of the group do to relieve pressure off of Jokić and Jamal? Jones: “We’re trying to do our part every day. We’re trying to be as consistent as possible. A lot of our starters do the heavy lifting. We know that they have so much on their plate that we’re going to do our best each and every night to take some of that pressure off of them. The better that we play, the less that is on their plate. That’s what we’re trying to focus on with being as consistent as possible. We know that they’re going to do their job. So we have to do ours.”
