Troy Renck: After the Nuggets defense disappeared for three quarters, Nikola Jokic became a ghost, an overnight expert in boos. Lost in the college football shuffle — CU is not hard to find at the bottom of the Big 12 conference and CSU celebrated a miracle by holding San Diego State under 50 points — the Nuggets opened their home season on Saturday. It set up as a soft landing to return to the fans’ warm embrace as they clobbered the sorry New Orleans Pelicans. As is their wont, the Nuggets decided not to contest layups, leading to a 73-57 halftime deficit. The crowd let the Nuggets have it as they walked off the court. Jokic did not approve, saying fans who booed in the overtime win “were not welcome anymore.” Is he right or wrong in his opinion?

Sean Keeler: The Joker may own a room with 19,905 people in it, but that doesn’t mean he can always read it. The Nuggets and their fans are in what Facebook, in the old days, would call a “complicated” relationship right now. The latter loves the former, and always will. They’ve hung in there through thin air and even thinner rosters. But the NBA is a playoff league. Pro basketball is a playoff sport, and the wounds from that first-round stinker against Minnesota this past spring are still fresh and still very, very real. Before this past weekend, the last time they saw the Nuggets up close, David Adelman’s team was getting blown out of a building they shouldn’t have by a team they shouldn’t have. When one of the worst units in the West in the Pelicans walks into your house and drops 73 points on you over the first two quarters — yeah, the natives are going to get restless.

Renck: In nearly 36 years of covering professional sports, I have learned not to tell people how to spend their discretionary income or how to vocalize their feelings. In general, it is uncomfortable when the home crowd turns on its team. Jokic seemed hurt. But it also highlighted a disconnect between players and fans. When fans boo, they have not disavowed their allegiance. They are frustrated, and, ironically, they often reach their boiling point sooner following years of success. That creates expectations of competence, if not brilliance. The Nuggets’ fans want to believe this team can make another title run. So when defense becomes optional, as it was the last time the Nuggets were in Ball Arena during the embarrassing Timberwolves series, the fans become hot. Fans don’t deserve wins. But they do deserve consistent effort.

Keeler: You have to put the entire offseason in context, too. Since June, the Nuggets traded away their most athletic player in a salary dump; let their best bench player and backup center walk in free agency; let go of a beloved play-by-play announcer and color analyst; and cried poor with every turn. It’s not Joker’s fault he’s making $59 million or Jamal Murray’s fault he’s making $50 million. But it is their responsibility — and part of their responsibility to perform. Which they did.

Renck: There’s another element of play: ticket prices and gambling. Not sure if you have noticed, but the economy is pinching a lot of people. So when folks decide to dip into the college fund to attend a game, they want the players to care as much as they do. It’s not realistic in an 82-game season, but fans aren’t wrong to believe it should be. Also, too many people have money on the games, from three-leg parlays to halftime over-unders. In my opinion, it has sapped the public’s patience, making it less forgiving. Jokic has earned the right to say and do anything he wants as the greatest player in franchise history. However, he would be better served to see the full picture rather than demand blind loyalty from fans.

Keeler: The Nuggets are one of the NBA’s “Avis” franchises — they have to try harder, even in the good times.  ESPN has wanted the Nuggs to go away for most of the last eight years, especially as The Jokic-Murray Era reached its apex and MIchael Malone’s dudes began knocking out the teams (Lakers, cough, LeBron, cough) that were better for Disney’s bottom line. But when Michael Wilbon said last week that the Nuggets were “teetering on irrelevance” nationally, it was hard to argue. That hurt. There’s only one way this team can kick that narrative in the teeth, and games such as Saturday’s don’t help. At all.

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