If Nikola Jokic blew anymore sunshine up Kevin Durant’s backside, KD could float into Ball Arena on a cloud of lollipops and rainbows.

“(He’s) probably the best scorer in the NBA,” the Nuggets’ NBA MVP said Friday of the Suns’ postseason ringer.

How do you cope with Phoenix’s pick-and-roll machine?

“Pray,” the Joker replied in his deadpan, Jokic way. Followed by a trademark Joker shrug.

“I don’t know,” Jokic continued. “They’re going to try everything, probably. They’re talented.”

Oh, yeah. Got ‘em right where he wants ’em.

So now the Joker “needs,” the papers say, a ring to validate his greatness? Seriously? Come on. Do better. Did our man Chuck Barkley “need” a ring? Did Karl Malone? Jokic is going into the Hall of Fame regardless. No Denver Nugget will ever wear No. 15 again. He’s the GOAT of Nick Wright’s least-favorite NBA franchise. The “greatness” ship sailed two years ago.

Oh, no. No, no, no, sir. The pressure in the Western Conference’s main event, the-semifinal-that-shoulda-been-a-final, is all on the 4 seed. On the NBA’s favorite Suns.

The Nuggets have nothing to lose from here on out. Nothing except for more games. This series is “The KD and Booker Show” the way CU football is now “The Deion Sanders Show starring (sometimes) Ralphie.” The NBA coastal media elite have had a crush on Phoenix from the minute Durant landed in the Valley of the Sun. Denver is a ‘1’ seed in name only, a low bar at high altitude.

“Part of the issue is (the Nuggets) are the 1 (seed), but no one views them as a 1 in terms of absolutely (being) the No. 1 seed,” Turner Sports analyst and former NBA guard Greg Anthony told me earlier this month.

“That’s part of the issue for them. Like if it were Phoenix as a ‘1’ seed, everyone would think, ‘They’re the best team, and, O.K., well, that’s the mountain we have to climb. That is the barometer by which we have to be judged. And that’s where we’ve got to go.’ (That’s) because of the inconsistency they (the Nuggets) have had this season, and the fact that defensively, they don’t put a lot of fear in you. I think that’s part of it.”

In that sense, this series is a free hit. And when nobody sees you coming? That’s where Nuggets coach Michael Malone has so often thrown his best haymakers.

It’s 2019 and 2020 all over again, kids. Nuggets against the world. Which means Malone can sharpen the no-respect card and swing that baby like a machete.

The Nuggets are fine front-runners. They’re superlative underdogs. Malone is an even better psychologist than he is a strategist, a former college point guard who was told he was too short and too slow and never forgot it. Or forgave it.

Ergo, his best teams play like terriers. He wants rosters that chew on your ankle and won’t let go until you shake them off.

“We went into Game 5 (against Minnesota) saying that Anthony Edwards is not going to beat us in the fourth quarter. He had five points,” the coach recalled earlier this week. “We were much more aggressive not allowing him to take the game over like he had done the three games prior. So we’ve had success (defensively) …

“You have to make adjustments, whether it’s …  who I’m playing in a rotation or what coverages we’re using. But Devin Booker has seen everything. Kevin Durant has seen everything, as well as Chris Paul. I think for us, as great as they are offensively we have to make them guard. We have to make great offensive players play both ends of the floor.”

The Suns pick-and-rolled the Clippers to death in round one. And here comes Jokic, blessed with a surgeon’s deft hands and an excavator’s change of direction. What could possibly go wrong?

“I think our pick-and-roll coverage is fine with (Jokic) being up,” Nuggets swingman Bruce Brown countered. “We’ve got help defense on the back end … I mean, every big could get killed in pick and roll, no matter what coverage they’re in. So it doesn’t really matter what people say.”

During the ’21 playoffs, the ones the Suns seared into Front Range brains with a 4-0 sweep if Denver, Jokic allowed 1.10 points per play against the pick-and-roll man, according to NBA.com tracking data, with a 50% opponent scoring frequency. During the first round of the ’23 postseason vs. the T-Pups, the Joker allowed just 0.60 points per play to the opposition’s pick-and-roll man with a scoring frequency of 40%.

“(Phoenix) does run a lot of pick and rolls, but we’ll make the necessary adjustments,” forward Aaron Gordon added. “We’re more focused on what we’re doing in our locker room and then (the Suns can) do whatever they want to do. And then we’ll adjust from there.

“(Jokic) knows where to be at all times. He knows the situation. He’s very aware of what’s going on in the game and what to look for on the defensive end. He’s definitely an anchor. The more that he communicates with us, the better.”

When last we saw the Suns in the playoffs, it led to arguably Jokic’s lowest moment, a frustration flagrant foul of Phoenix’s Cameron Payne and an ejection in Game 4. The Joker was largely alone, everybody knew it, and he cracked.

On Friday, Jokic got busy trying to crack the scribes up.

“I mean, at this point, we can’t waste any time or energy on feeling slighted,” Malone offered. “There’s a reason — I mean, Kevin Durant gets there at the trade deadline and any team that has Kevin Durant is going to be viewed in a much different light. The way Devin Booker is playing right now is just off the charts.

“So we don’t take that personally. We know who we are. We know what we’re capable of when we’re playing our brand of basketball on both ends of the floor. And we’re looking forward to a (heck) of a series.”

Oh, yeah. Right where they want ‘em.