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The mindset shift that helped Heat’s Nikola Jovic turn around brutal slump
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- The mindset shift that helped Heat’s Nikola Jovic turn around brutal slump
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MIAMI – As the Miami Heat beat the Denver Nuggets impressively on Monday night, 147-123, the game featured many contributions, with one standout being from Nikola Jovic . With the Heat glowing over Jovic in the past three games, it seems as if he turned a corner, with the young forward speaking about the mindset shift he went through.
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It has been a mostly frustrating season for Jovic, even after getting a $62.4 million contract extension in October, but it turned for the worse when he experienced a scary-looking elbow injury on Dec. 15 against the Toronto Raptors .
Missing the next four games, he came back and had a different energy, impacting each game, especially in the win over Denver, recording 22 points on seven of 12 shooting from the field, five of eight from deep, to go along wth five assists and four rebounds.
Also playing a key role as a center in small-ball lineups on Monday, Jovic would say after the game that there was a mental reset, expressing that it started with treating basketball "more as a job."
"For sure, yes," Jovic said. "I would give credit to my family, who came here, too, and kind of helped me get back on track. When you have people who love you around you, it for sure helps. "But for me, it was to stop looking at basketball as a hobby and something that I love and look at it more as a job, as a profession, because that's who I am now. So, I come in every day with a different approach now, and I guess it has to stay that way."
Heat's Norman Powell on Nikola Jovic and his recent success
Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
While Jovic has now been making an impact with the Heat ever since returning from injury, he is also being fed confidence from his teammates, such as Norman Powell. The veteran guard was heard hyping up Jovic during his press conference and even in his own presser, speaking about what he's seen from the 22-year-old.
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"I've always joked with him, like, 'Leave that other Niko in the past. Pre-injury Niko, we don't want that. We want this Niko now,'" Powell said after scoring 25 points on Monday. "So, I'm really glad that he's turned the corner. It's a long season. There's going to be ebbs and flows, but you got a coaching staff, you got a team that really believes in what he can bring to the table and the potential that he has as a player. But it's all on him. He has to put the work in; he has to be committed. He has to be locked in and focused. And when he does that, the sky is the limit for that kid."
At any rate, Jovic looks to stay consistent in his minutes and role within Miami as the team is on a three-game winning streak, trying to make it four straight on Thursday against the Detroit Pistons . The Heat are currently 18-15, which puts the team seventh in the Eastern Conference.
Related: Heat back to basics in impressive win over Nuggets – 'Proof is in the pudding'
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