The Nuggets’ coach and his generational star, who spent much of Wednesday’s win over Sacramento frustrated with the officiating, said a lot by hardly saying anything at all.

“Hmmm, next question,” Michael Malone answered when asked if smaller defenders get away with extra physicality against Nikola Jokic after Denver’s 116-110 win over the Kings at Ball Arena.

“I appreciate the question. I really do. … There’s so many things that I want to say. If you guys want to start a GoFundMe, I will say what I want to say, but I don’t think that’s going to happen in here.”

After the hat passed around the Nuggets’ press conference room failed to collect the requisite donations to get Malone’s full opinion, Jokic was asked the same question in the locker room. Like his coach, Jokic protected his pockets while succinctly sharing his opinion.

“Yes,” Jokic said.

Jokic and Jonas Valanciunas matched up for the tipoff, but as soon as Jokic tapped the ball back to Christian Braun, Sacramento’s center found Russell Westbrook. Kings forward Keegan Murray picked up Jokic and physically face-guarded the three-time Most Valuable Player almost from the jump.

From the first possession forward, Murray and Jake LaRavia bumped, shoved and grabbed Jokic to prevent him from getting the ball where he wanted. Jokic doesn’t think he could get away with the same type of defense.

“I’m just saying just because somebody is stronger it doesn’t mean that someone else can push him,” Jokic said.

“If I push him on the perimeter, it’s going to be a foul.”

Malone was pleased with Jokic’s disposition. The three-time Most Valuable Player often threw his hands into the air to question a call and had a few conversations with the officials, but it never boiled over to his team’s detriment.

“I was just proud of Nikola for just kind of keeping his composure throughout,” Malone said. “That’s really hard in a game like that.”

Jokic rarely pats himself on the back for anything, but he is proud of the restraint he’s shown as the strategy has spread in the last few weeks. He was visibly bothered by one sequence in the second half where he felt like he was pushed before he was called for an illegal screen moments later.

“I think I’m doing great. Sometimes we get punished for reaction. I get frustrated because I get punished for reaction. They don’t look at what happened, what (preceded) my reaction,” Jokic said.

“It’s OK. It’s a part of the game.”

Negating the strategy requires teammates like Russell Westbrook and Christian Braun to make teams pay for daring them to shoot. Another possible solution involves running more pick-and-roll sets. The easiest fix is Denver getting stops and taking advantage of transition opportunities where Westbrook and Braun are at their best and opposing defenses don’t have the opportunity to get set.

“The best player on the court, in the world, is Nikola Jokic. So, I’ll turn it over 20 times trying to pass him the ball. I don’t really care,” Westbrook said. “There’s a reason why they’ve got five people in the paint. If I’m the other team, I would try to do that, too. It’s our job as a supporting cast to make sure we help and make the game easy for him. Get stops, run in transition, because we’re the best transition team in the league. When we get stops, you can’t load up.

“Our defense has got to help our offense.”

Denver’s star was largely satisfied with the quality of shots his team produced and encouraged his teammates to shoot with confidence against the rapidly spreading strategy.

Jokic wasn’t pleased with the whistle for much of Wednesday’s win, and he didn’t need many words to explain what he’s looking for afterward.

“Just equality or whatever,” Jokic said. “Consistency.”