Kerr plays Grinch, calls out Jokic and NBA after Nuggets top Dubs

DENVER—Like a great Christmas party, everyone on the Denver Nuggets brought something to the occasion as delivered against the Golden State Warriors 120-114. Meanwhile, the visitors brought the Grinch as a complaining Steve Kerr sounded off on Saint Nicholas Jokic.

Nikola Jokic led the Nuggets to another win, their eighth in the last nine games. The NBA’s two-time MVP tied a career-high with 18 free throws attempted and set a personal mark for free throw shots made, hitting all 18. It’s the latest chapter in a continuing saga this season where it seems as though NBA refs are struggling to officiate the star big man.

Jokic has twice been kicked out of games this season, has been fined by the league, and has generally been mystified by the whistles he hasn’t been getting. On Monday, he got nearly every call for the first time in his career. It ended with 14 free throws just in the second half.

“I have no problem with the officials themselves, I have a problem with the way we are legislating defense out of the game,” Kerr, the legendary head coach of the Golden State Warriors said. “The way we’re teaching the officials, we’re enabling players to BS their way to the foul line. If I were a fan I wouldn’t have wanted to watch the second half of that game. It was disgusting. Just baiting the refs into calls, but the refs have to make those calls because that’s how they’re taught. I have a real problem with how we have legislated defense out of the game in this league and the players are really smart. Over the last decade they’ve gotten smarter and we’ve enabled them and the players are taking full advantage and it’s a parade to the free throw line and it’s disgusting to watch.”

Steve Kerr sounds off after Nikola Jokic’s 18 free throws: “I have a problem with the way we are legislating defense out of the game.We're just enabling players to BS their way to the foul line. If I were a fan, I wouldn't have wanted to watch the second half. It was disgusting." pic.twitter.com/YBWuldi0Za

— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) December 25, 2023

Jokic only shot 4-of-12 from the field, a rare game he was below .500. He got it done at the line to a historic level for him. But the NBA’s last two MVPs not named Nikola, Joel Embiid and Giannis Antetokounmpo, have combined to shoot at least 18 free throws in a game eight times already this season—including a 32 foul shot game from the Freak.

“Jokic gets fouled a lot, you see his arms, those are fouls—he gets beat up down there like Dwight Howard used to,” Jamal Murray said. “He’s such a big body that it’s hard to call every foul but when he’s going into his shooting motion—he can only do so much, but he just has to stay aggressive.”

The Warriors as a team, shot 23 free throws to the Nuggets 32 in the game. Clearly, part of Kerr’s strategy was to play physical on Jokic, with two Warriors nearly fouling out.

“There’s a line, a flop, and showing you’re getting fouled,” Murray, who has 53 foul shots on the entire year said. “I just try to play through it, play through the contact and not flop—maybe that’s why I don’t get to the line.”

But part of the Nuggets recent run of success is them getting to the line more, shooting three more free throws a game over the last nine than they did over the first 23.

“Early in the year, the foul line was a real problem for us because one, we were last in free throw percentage and two, we weren’t getting there, hardly at all,” Michael Malone said. “And lately we’re getting there a lot more frequently. And we’re making them, and so yes, getting in the bonus early, that allows you to limit the line score where the clock is stopped and to set your defense and you know to try and control the tempo, if you will. So yes Jokic getting there 18 times as a team getting there 32 times is always beneficial.”

Despite Kerr’s muddying of the waters, the Nuggets did play really high-level basketball in spurts between the foul-shot flurry. Michael Porter Jr. showed Klay Thompson what he once was, getting 19 points, snagging 10 boards and swatting four shots. All the while Kentavious Caldwell-Pope held Steph Curry to 7-of-21 shooting while tacking on four threes for 15 points of his own. Aaron Gordon rounded out the three-and-d trio by kicking in 16 points and helping to keep fellow splash brother Thompson to 3-of-12 from the field.

Murray was the star atop the Nuggets tree on Christmas, scoring a game-high 28 points in limited action due to foul trouble. He hit a giant three at game’s end that was stocking-stuffed by a Porter rejection and a Jokic jam. It was a day where all five of Denver’s elite starting unit made their presence felt—and not even the Grinch could take away from that.