Nikola Jokic is ‘absolutely TOTALLY EXHAUSTED’ – Windy 🗣️ + How far can the Pacers go ⁉️ | Get Up

Nikola Jokic is ‘absolutely TOTALLY EXHAUSTED’ – Windy 🗣️ + How far can the Pacers go ⁉️ | Get Up

We got game fours abounding. We got the MVPs. We got SGA. We got the Thunder. They would lead by as many as 15 early. Denver only scored eight points in the first quarter of this game. And then in the second, Jay, they got it going a little. Yeah, that was tied for the lowest scoring first quarter in NBA playoff history. Rock bite. And this is how it goes. Aaron Gor knocking down a shot from the outside. They come and work their way back. The Nuggets would take the lead and then it’s Jokic. He would score 27 and 13. We’ll get to his fourth quarter in a minute, but the Nuggets have a six-point lead going to that fourth. But it was OKC. Monica, look at the ball movement on this possession. I mean, this is what this young team does. Alex Caruso in particular has been such an great ad. They call him the OG. He’s only 31 though. Thunder take the lead there. And then it’s SGA and OKC is up by five. Four minutes left here. Jay is just, you could look at Joic. He doesn’t He just looks worn out. Well, Hearnstein does a really good job of staying on his right shoulder. give him a lot of credit and just these are the kind of chippies that Jokic has typically made. Yic only five points in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, SGA would score 25 and OKC with a big win on the road to even up the series at two games a piece. And the numbers that matter belong to the Joker. He’s averaging almost six turnovers a game in this series. He’s shooting just 39%. Both would be his worst in a single season in his career. Here was Charles Barkley about the Joker after the game. Two things. Number one, I I thought what the NBA did to them was unfair. Uh making them play late Friday night, then an early afternoon game. I thought that was unfair. I truly believe that. But also, the Denver has never addressed their backup center situation or their bench. I think that’s one of the things that hurt them last year cuz he gave out of gas last year against Rudy and Big Cat. Uh, so I don’t think it’s fair uh to blame everything on the Joker, but he has not played well and I think he’s wearing down. I was going to go to Wendy, but I saw your face when he said the scheduling was unfair. Why did you you made sort of a a weird face? It’s unfair for OKC, too, right? I mean, they’re playing on short time as well. So, I’m in the game with no excuses and I think that fits towards Nicole Yokic as well. Look, I’ve been on this show and I’ve said that I think he is the best player in the world. And when you’re the best player in the world, you have unfair expectations. And at this point the season, even though it happened last year, Isaiah Hartinstein is a favorable matchup for Nicola Joic. It’s one that he should be dominating. I know you look, you say 27 and 14, but his numbers have been off. He’s shooting 33% from the field the last three games, 18% from the three-point line the last three games. Guy shot 54 and 42 throughout the course of the regular season. When you’re the best player in the world, you have to be great. And this game four was a game missed by Denver. I feel like when they lose this series, you can point towards this game and say this is a game where they should have been up 3-1. Yeah. I mean, they had their opportunities in that fourth quarter. Win man, how how about this idea that Jokic is wearing down? That seems to be the prevailing narrative right now. What’s your take? I don’t think he’s wearing down. I think he’s absolutely exhausted. I think you have to look at the last two weeks. They have played seven games in 13 days. uh that he was uh Vitzio Zubat was all over him in the last series. You we’re going to show stats from this series, but you got to look back the last seven games. He’s shooting 40% and averaging five turnovers a game over that stretch. This is a guy who shot 56% during the last three postseasons. This is a look at his free throws. He shot 90% at the line last year in the playoffs. He’s down almost 15% this year. Missed two big free throws. I will also point out Denver is basically playing with six guys as Jay mentioned there. There’s no backup center to be seen. He had the most minutes per game average of his career this season. They were borrowing from Peter to pay Paul during the whole season. Aaron Gordon was out several different times increasing his load. They, you know, as the playoffs have gone on, their rotation has got even shorter and shorter and shorter. I think he’s absolutely totally exhausted. Yeah, there is an advantage to taking care of your first round series quickly. when you’re the one seed versus the four seed, that’s different. They had to play, the Nuggets did. Seven tough games against the Clippers, turn around real quick and play in here. What’s your thought on the way this thing is going right now, particularly for the Joker? Well, the only thing I would add to the conversation because I think Jay Will and Wendy nailed it, but I also think you consider the coaching change and the clips that we’re getting out of their locker room, out of their huddles in terms of the extra effort that Jokic is exerting in terms of bringing his team together, doing a little bit of coaching, if you will. Like there’s a lot in terms of why you would look at him and say he’s exhausted. But again, Jay is correct. Now, I do think this though. I think for us to maybe anticipate those gaudy numbers to have incredible sustainability is a little bit unfair because while Isaiah Hardenstein is not the offensive juggernaut, he is a tough physical competitive uh defender. Same thing with Ivas in the first round. It’s not just It’s not just Hardenstein. It’s not just Hardenstein. The collective the entire Yes. They’re bring they got three bigs and they’re rotating them in. Chad Homegrren, Jaylen Williams, Isaiah Hardenstein. They’re just coming around and around and around and around. Joic is out there the whole time. Every five minutes he’s got a fresher body coming out to lean against him. They’re bringing double teams. This the load on him is the largest load on any player in the NBA right now. And you are seeing the effects of it. The Nuggets have been shallow for years. They have not replaced their veterans for various reasons. e either through the draft picks haven’t gone up or they haven’t spent and they are now paying that price in this series. Winnie, just let me tell you, you are correct. Yep. You are correct. But Jay’s about to But we also live in a world of no damn excuses. Monica, this is the world of heavy that wears the crown. I mean, when LeBron goes through this, what we do when KD goes through it, when Yiannis goes through it, when you’re the best player in the world, all the things that Wendy said are correct, but nobody cares. It’s what comes along with it. OKC, if you look back at the season statistics, defensively next to OKC’s name is just a one in every category. They were the best defensive team in the NBA this year by a wide margin. That defense is showing itself right now. And look, this series is two, too. That’s what I’m saying. Exactly. It’s right there. They’re right in there. And the Nuggets have now finally have homecourt disadvantage, which is working on their favor. Being home is the worst thing you can be in these playoffs. Your team’s there. Your team’s there. Well, and in this round right now being playing at home is the worst place you can possibly be. So, the Nuggets get the advantage of going on the road for game five. But Granny Monica, doesn’t it kind of feel similar? And no, it could be different kind of with the Knicks a little bit, right? It does feel fascinating that the athleticism starts to wear down the guys that have to play 40, 45 plus minutes every single night. At Joic’s numbers from yesterday’s game, you’d say by anyone’s standards, it’s a decent game. But if you watch him in the fourth quarter, you can see the lumbering. You can see it getting to him. And Wendy made that point earlier. Okay, so we’ve got that one. I mentioned the homecourt disadvantage. That’s where it has really in the East is where that has really taken precedent. This was the first win. I’m going to tell you right now, the Pacers win this game against the Cavs because they were winning by 41 points. Boy, Lar Greeny. Yeah. So, but but here’s the moment of this game. Look at Benedict Matan just punching DeAndre Hunter and the two sides going at it here. Mathan eventually given a flagrant two and ejected. That’s just a dirty play. A dirty play. Yeah. And uh look, DeAndre Hutton also didn’t have a field goal attempt attempted after that play. Yeah. And and and look, this was just a non-game in the second quarter. The Pacers are just obliterating them. And then we’re going to find Miles Turner at the top of the three or top of the key, excuse me. This is a 7 nothing run and it’s just getting started. Hallebertton’s going to keep it going. This thing would eventually run out to a 17 nothing Indiana run. Monica, I’m just going to throw it out there. Should we be talking about Indiana potentially being a world champion? I mean, they are playing at a high level. They demolish Cleveland last night. Yeah. Demolish. As someone who thought Cleveland was legit, you then have to. Yes. Because of the way that they are making light work of the Cavs. Pacers up 41 at the half. And then the only thing that left that mattered, this is during second half warm-ups. That’s the reason you’re seeing these camera angles. It’s not game action, but that’s Donovan Mitchell and this is just terrible. You can see he’s trying to warm up. And look, Jay, what do you see there? Like he just I I don’t know what else. It’s something with the left ankle. They’re saying it’s a left ankle. Cavs get dominated and they lose their star. The final was 129 to 109 and it wasn’t nearly that close. Wendy, what if anything do we know about the status of Donovan Mitchell going forward as the Cavs are down three games to one? Well, you are correct. They are saying that that’s an ankle injury. I am not here to call them not being truthful, but that does not look like an ankle injury to me. He has been dealing with a calf injury during this series. That does look like it could be something with a calf there. He is having an MRI today. And here’s the reality. The reality is the only reason the Cavs are anywhere close in this series is because Donovan Mitchell has played great. He averaged 40 points a game over the first three games of the series. If he is not able to go in tomorrow’s game five, I do not see a scenario in which the Cavs can make this sort of comeback. The Pacers absolutely beat them mentally and physically in this game. And I know that there are going to be people who are going to say that this is some sort of upset. And you alluded to it. I mean, it absolutely is an upset, but the breath of the upset, it would be disrespecting the Pacers. They are 41 and 16 since January 1st. That is about on the pace of a 59 win team. The Cavs were a 64- win team. This was a lot closer from the start. And the Pacers have been healthier in this series and they’ve been more mentally sharp in this series. You can have a blowout loss on the road. Many championship teams have lost games in blowout fashion on the road. The reason this series is 3-1 and not 22 is that the Pacers have been mentally stronger, especially in game two where the Cavs had an inexplicable situation blowing that game. That’s why they’re in on the brink of elimination. And by the way, that win and Cindy, we can put the full screen up that um Arty was just telling me that was originally later in the hour. So, home teams in the Eastern Conference semifinals in this round are four and excuse me, home teams in the conference semi-finals, so in this round are 4- 10, including 1 and seven in the East. That win last night that we just showed you, Indiana’s win was the first home win of this round. Indiana Cleveland had been all road wins. Nicks Celtics has been all road wins. This could just be a coincidence. I I’m I’m trying to figure out what the reason is for this. Do you have a theory as to why home court has been an actual disadvantage in this round of the playoffs? Well, so far would be my caveat to that statement because I think later in series, particularly if you think Boston and the New York and Boston is going to go the distance, I think it will matter a little bit later. Um I my only theory on it is that the fans energy in terms of being anxious all seeing 20 point leads across the league dissipate plays into the players getting tight as well. That’s the only theory that I really have on this one. Otherwise, I don’t know. And my theory is I don’t care. I don’t give a damn. I want home court. Well, no, no, no. My thing is I want it doesn’t matter what that record is. I want homec court advantage going into the Eastern Conference Finals or the Western Conference Finals. I want my fans to be able to play that advantage when it comes down the stretch. I don’t know what that is. That feels more like an anomaly to me. Sometimes these things happen. If your team has statistically been better on the road all season, do you still feel that way? Period. Like Boston, correct? Like Boston’s 34 and8 on the road. I still want home court advantage. What matters the most? I mean, the Knicks, who we’re going to get to here in a second, are 1 and3 at home in these playoffs, and they are 5 and0 on the road.

On Get Up, Monica McNutt, Jay Williams and Brian Windhorst join Mike Greenberg to react to the Oklahoma City Thunder defeating the Denver Nuggets in Game 4 of the Western Conference Semifinals of the 2025 NBA Playoffs. Then, they discuss the Indiana Pacers taking a 3-1 series lead over the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

0:00 Thunder-Nuggets highlights
1:57 Why is Nikola Jokic struggling?
7:05 Cavs-Pacers highlights
8:35 Donovan Mitchell injury
9:38 How far can Pacers go this postseason?
10:50 Why has homecourt been a disadvantage?

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