33% shooting + 18% three-point shooting! What happened to Jokic in the last three games?

In the past three playoff games, Jokic has averaged 21.3 points, 12.3 rebounds and 5 assists per game, shooting 33.3% from the field and 18.2% from three-point range. In the pivotal playoff arena, the three-time MVP has seen a rare slump. What happened to Jokic?

Against the Thunder's G2, Jokic shot 6-of-16; Against the Thunder's G3, Jokic shot 8-of-25; Against the Thunder's G4, Jokic shot 7-of-22.Shooting less than 40 percent from the field in three straight games, the last time Jokic had such a poor shooting performance was seven years ago。 In November 2018, Jokic shot less than 40% of his shots in four consecutive games in the regular season, 3-of-13 against the Timberwolves, 2-of-7 against the Magic, 6-of-20 from the Thunder, and 5-of-14 from the Lakers.

How far is Jokic's last three games from the normal level of the regular season? Shooting 33.3 percent in the last three games and 57.6 percent in the regular season; He shot just 18.1 percent from three-point range in the last three games, compared to 41.7 percent in the regular season; He averaged 21.3 points per game in the last three games and 29.6 points in the regular season, only five assists per game in the last three games and 10.2 in the regular season, and 5.7 turnovers in the last three games compared to 2.3 in the regular season.

After the G4 game, the first question Jokic was asked at the press conference was about his current poor shooting state. Jokic responded: "There are many reasons for this.They defended me very well, they were close to me all the time and they were very physical。 I feel like I missed about two or three open shots tonight. So, it's a multi-factorial factor.They compressed my attacking space and put people behind the defendersIn short, there are all kinds of factors. Of course, I need to do better too, but that's part of the game. ”

The Thunder used a different wrap-and-wrap strategy against Jokic. 'They're very physical, they're very active defensively, they're always helping out. Sometimes I just can't make it. So, now it's all kinds of factors. I remember in the fourth quarter, I had an open hook shot and missed two key free throws. We were only four points down and if I had scored it we would have been two points behind and we would have equalised in one round. But then they scored, and the difference became six points, and the difference between the two rounds was even more. So, I think we had chances to win games, we had a lot of chances, but we didn't go in. ”

Most of the playoffs have only one day off, so how much of an impact does that have on Jokic's form? Jokic himself doesn't think it has much of an impact: "When I play, I don't think about it. So, the impact is really not big. ”

However, the data shows that Jokic may be really tired, and the rest time still has a big impact on the shooting rate.Eight of Jokic's 11 playoff games have been off for just one day, and he has shot 44.4 percent from the field in those eight gamesJokic shot 48.1 percent from the field for two games off and 50 percent for one game with five days off. So, Jokic's physical fitness is indeed facing a severe test.

Ross Barkley believes that the Nuggets' rotation is too short and there is no real interior bench player, which is one of the reasons for Jokic's poor form.

Barkley said: "The Nuggets haven't been able to solve their problem with their backup center and not enough bench depth. I think that's one of the issues that plagued them last year. Because last year against Gobert Towns, Jokic was already exhausted. I'm not saying I'm going to blame Jokic for everything, but he really didn't play well, and he's getting exhausted. ”

In the second half of the game, the Nuggets used only six players,The Nuggets only have one true backup center, Jordan Jr., who has played just 36 minutes in all seven games in the playoffs.

thereforeJokic averaged 40.3 minutes per game in this series, well above his average of 36.7 minutes per game in the regular season。 Jokic has struggled in the final quarter of the last two games, averaging just 3.5 points per game in the final quarter while shooting 23.1 percent from the field. In the final quarter of those two games in Denver, he missed all five three-point shots. Fatigue does seem to have affected his form.

With the series coming to King Mountain, can Jokic shake off the slump of the past three games and reshow his three-time MVP style?