This wasn’t a “Jokic didn’t show up” game. It was a “Jokic showed up and still looked human” game — and that might be more concerning. Denver’s Game 2 loss to the Clippers was like watching a team play uphill in flip-flops: clumsy, reactive, and just not quite in control.

Nikola Jokic still posted a triple-double, but the Clippers didn’t have to stop him — they just had to slow him down. And once that happened, Denver’s entire game plan buckled.

Head coach David Adelman didn’t even pretend things were fine. His opening breakdown of the loss wasn’t about stars or scoring — it was all about spacing. And he’s absolutely right. The Clippers swarmed the strong side, zoned up the backside, and dared the Nuggets to make the read.

News flash: They didn’t!

“I didn’t think our spacing, you know, on the backside was good enough to take advantage of them bringing three, four people across the court,” Adelman said post-game. “If they’re going to do that, we have to find the open man on the weak side and take advantage of it.”

Instead, the Nuggets got passive. They hesitated. The ball stuck. And when they did swing it? The Clippers were already recovered.

You could see Jokic looking for the right read… but half the time, there wasn’t one. On paper: 26 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists. That’s a Jokic stat line. But anyone watching could tell — he wasn’t flowing. He was processing. Thinking. Second-guessing.

That’s the subtle magic the Clippers broke. They clogged lanes without over-committing, zoned up off the ball, and turned Denver’s best weapon — Jokic’s vision — into a traffic jam. “When he drove it, they did a good job of bringing people, but also zoning up passing lanes,” Adelman explained. “He’s a professional. If he feels like to win the next game, he’s got to take more shots, I know he will.”

Jokic might’ve over-passed tonight. He had looks. But the Clippers baited him just enough to hesitate — and hesitation is death when you run an offense like Denver’s.

Kawhi’s Big Steal and a Bunch of Jokic’s Little Mistakes

Let’s talk moments. The Kawhi Leonard steal in crunch time? Killer! But it was just one of many. The Nuggets had the ball, the lead, and then — poof — it was gone.

Adelman saw the pattern loud and clear: every time Denver built momentum, they immediately threw it away. “Just seemed like every time we got back in it, tied it, took the lead… a multitude of mistakes would follow that,” he said. “You can’t have mistakes like that.”

Loose ball turnovers. Fast break giveaways. Clippers running off of Denver bricks. And oh yeah — eight missed free throws. In a playoff game. “That was a killer,” Adelman admitted.

Denver’s margin for error isn’t big enough to survive that. Especially when the Clippers are dialed in and playing mistake-free basketball in the clutch. One reporter asked it straight-up: Is Jokic passing up threes he should be taking?

Adelman didn’t say no. He didn’t say yes. He said “Maybe,” and then steered the conversation into nuance — about how Jokic’s drives lead to open looks for others… unless the defense is zoning up the weak side like the Clippers just did. That’s the bigger issue. Not Jokic passing — but Jokic playing within a system that’s not fully functional right now. “We have to make sure we get him in space properly,” Adelman emphasized.

This isn’t about Jokic needing to “be more aggressive.” It’s about the entire team syncing up and recognizing how delicate the Jokic ecosystem really is.

When the spacing’s wrong? When the help reads are late? And when guys are missing rotations and shots, and Jokic is surrounded by chaos? He starts looking like a genius stuck in a group project with no collaborators. Game 3 isn’t about Jokic scoring 40. It’s about everyone else giving him the tools to orchestrate again. Because when he’s not in control? Neither are the Nuggets.