Ejected Nikola Jokic, Michael Malone watch Nuggets “figure it out”

DETROIT — On the side of the tunnel nobody could see, two exiles who were last seen making a scene before exiting through said tunnel in states of indignant calm now stood waiting together. Their earlier expressions were replaced with giddy smiles, like they had plotted it this way from the beginning.

They hadn’t, though.

Michael Malone and Nikola Jokic greeted the Nuggets with high-fives and hugs as players and coaches walked off the court late Monday night at Little Caesars Arena, following a 107-103 Nuggets win over the upstart Pistons.

The head coach and star player were reduced to hype men, so they embraced it. After all, their outbursts were responsible for sending a game that was supposed to be a much-needed cake-walk off the rails.

Ejected 12 minutes apart, Malone was joined by Jokic to watch on television together as a suddenly different version of the Nuggets tried to navigate an unusual second half without them or Jamal Murray.

“Nikola, I think he was concerned about my wellbeing, wanted to come back and check on me,” Malone joked.

Malone needed Jokic’s company to ease, and occasionally amplify, his nerves backstage. In unexpected ways, the Nuggets (10-4) might have needed Jokic’s ejection even more. After four consecutive road losses, it would have been easy to lean on the dependable, get-out-of-jail-free qualities of a two-time MVP in the second half. Jokic probably would have bailed Denver out in a close game against a dismal opponent. It wouldn’t have revealed much about the 2023-24 Nuggets. It wouldn’t have cured the vibes of a so-far disappointing road trip.

Instead, Jokic went to jail, and the result was a win too messy and confounding to satisfy but too compelling to resist.

“You’ve gotta make up for a lot,” Aaron Gordon told The Denver Post. “Like, it’s hard to make up for it. But you’ve gotta do it through energy and effort.”

In the halftime locker room, Malone didn’t speak much other than apologizing. He and Jokic left the leadership responsibilities to lead assistant coach David Adelman and the remaining players whose job it was to protect a 56-55 lead.

“I think that’s the beauty of it,” Reggie Jackson, who led the team with 21 points, told The Post. “They let the team figure it out.”

Jackson is meant to be Denver’s backup point guard, but he was already starting with Murray injured. Now Christian Braun entered the starting lineup (15 points, six rebounds). Gordon became Jokic, the interim starting center. DeAndre Jordan became even more of an assistant coach than usual, “letting us know we’ve gotta wake the (bleep) up,” as Jackson put it. Central to all the moving parts was Adelman, who has filled in for Malone as recently as this preseason.

“D.A. could be a head coach anywhere in the league,” Gordon said. “He deserves a head coach job. We’re lucky that he’s with us. We’re happy that he’s with us, for times like this.”

The Nuggets have been advocating for Adelman’s head-coaching credentials for quite some time now, but Denver’s de facto offensive coordinator was met with a new obstacle in Detroit. So much of what the Nuggets run offensively is based around Jokic’s play style. Adelman needed to adapt in sync with his players.

Twice in the last seven minutes of the game, the Nuggets’ first offensive possession out of a timeout used a Gordon dribble hand-off to Jackson to produce critical points. The first time from the right wing, Gordon kept a tight seal on Jackson’s defender as he handed off, forcing Isaiah Stewart to drop into coverage and juggle both Nuggets going downhill: Jackson on the baseline drive, Gordon on the roll. Jackson sunk a floater for a 94-93 lead. It was 97-94 Pistons when the Nuggets emerged from another timeout with a decoy. Gordon, back to the basket, was poised for another hand-off on the opposite wing, but Jackson screeched to a halt and made a back-cut instead. Gordon found him for another floater (and-one), tying the game with 3:38 left.

Malone watched. The fourth quarter featured six ties and six lead changes.

“I move around,” he said. “I can’t just sit there. I was in the back room, the training room, the locker room. And if (Detroit) went on a run, I’d go to a different room to see if I could switch the mojo up a little bit.”

But he re-congregated with Jokic and Vlatko Cancar in the locker room for the tail end. “When you make a good play, we’re pumping our fists, we’re excited, we’re hugging,” Malone said. “And when you don’t make a good play, I’m cursing in Serbian.”

Jackson and Gordon had been refining their chemistry all half. Tied at 103, they made one more good play using a pick-and-roll. The Pistons had no choice but to focus on Jackson after he had gashed them with drives all half. He timed his lob to the rim perfectly, giving Gordon a game-winning and-one with 1:33 left.

The decisive basket was a perfect summation of the evening’s theme: Figure it out.

“It’s a little bit different, pick-and-rolls with Joker and (pick-and-rolls with) myself,” Gordon said. “With Joker, it’s a pocket pass. You get him in the pocket. With me, you get me late. So if the big comes over, you just throw it up. I go dunk it. It’s a little bit of an adjustment. We got it down the stretch.”