The 70-year-old king: Moti Arwasti interviews Miki Berkovich/Ahrle Weisberg, photography: Yotam Ronen, editing: Gilad Mann-Manheim
A painful return to reality.
Danny Avdia tonight (between Thursday and Friday) recorded one of his weakest games of the season, precisely after his career record game in which he scored 43 points - an illustration of the long way he still has to go before becoming a real star.
Avdia settled for 5 points with only 18% from the field - his lowest this season - in Washington's 110:130 loss in Denver, in the first game after returning from the All-Star break.
Avdia started as usual in the top five but had a lot of trouble coming into his own, as he finishes with 2-for-11 from the field (including 1-for-3 from three) and fails to reach his usual contribution in other aspects as well, settling for 4 rebounds and an assist in 27 minutes.
This continues what already appears to be a trend: in the last two meetings against the champion, Avdia scored only 9 points with 2 of 16 from the field, and in total since the beginning of his NBA career, he has only reached double-digit points in two games against them.
Following the loss, which was the ninth in a row for Washington, the Wizards dropped to 46:9, the second worst in the Eastern Conference and the entire NBA.
The Nuggets, on the other hand, went 19:37 and broke a streak of three losses from before the break.
Don't like the meetings against the Nuggets.
Avdia tonight/Reuters
All of them suffered at the mercy of his arm.
Jokic/Reuters
The Wizards started with an intriguing change in the starting five as the weak Jordan Paul dropped to the bench to make way for rookie Bilal Koulibaly, but with all due respect to Washington, it was Nikola Jokic's night from start to finish.
The Serbian star toyed with the Wizards, did whatever he wanted in front of his guards and made sure the Nuggets got a quick run, finishing the first quarter with a 13-point lead, and going into the half with a plus-23.
From there it was already a long garbage time until the end, with Jokic getting a triple double Already in the third quarter and registering an impressive milestone with a triple double against each of the 29 teams in the NBA, becoming only the third who can boast such a figure alongside LeBron James and Russell Westbrook.
In only 31 minutes on the floor, Jokic reached 21 points with 10 of 10 from the field (1 of 2 from the free throw), and all this alongside 19 rebounds and 15 assists that gave him a perfect triple double.
Michael Porter Jr. enjoyed himself and finished as the outstanding scorer with 22 points along with 11 rebounds and Jamal Murray contributed 18 and 8 assists.
On the other side, Kyle Kuzma, who was absent from the Wizards' previous game in which Avdia took command, finished a good individual game with 31 points (with 12 of 25 from the field proving who is still the boss in the team) along with 13 rebounds and 3 assists.
Jordan Paul, who came off the bench as mentioned above, scored 18 points with a terrible inefficiency (4 of 17 from the field).
Avdia and the Wizards will get a chance to forget the bad game in less than 24 hours, when they will host another top team from the West, Oklahoma City, between Friday and Saturday.
More on the same topic:
Danny Avdia
Washington Wizards
NBA
Denver Nuggets