The NBA is constantly changing more than the other major sports. One thing that isn’t changing is the high-volume consistent impact of Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic.
Once again, Nikola Jokic is dominating opposing teams by scoring, rebounding and creating shot opportunities. He continues to be a serious league MVP candidate for another season.
This season looks like an opportunity for Jokic to acquire his fourth league MVP title, with his usual contending mate in Joel Embiid struggling to play games. Joker looks even better this season.
Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green was watching from the sidelines as Jokic put up 38 points against his team last night.
Green spoke about why Jokic is dominant in every phase, talking about his playmaking and his skills as a passer.
Green explained: “When you’re playing against the Joker, it’s always a tough matchup cause when Joker has the ball, he’s one of the better scorers in the league.
“He’s averaging like right around 30 points a game, but when he has the ball, everyone on the court is live because he can find you and get the ball to wherever you are, if you’re open. So everyone else when he has the ball is live. With Joker he can make every single play.”
Co-host Baron Davis added: “We’ve never seen something like Joker, a point center. Like he’s a center in a point guard body with a point guard.”
The Nuggets have won eight straight games against the Warriors now, and Green knows first-hand how tough he is to defend, and admits he just has to limit his scoring, or make it as tough as possible – but he cannot stop it.
He added: “What makes him such a tough cover is in most cases, you say ‘hey, that guy going to get 30, it is what it,’ you just got to make it tough. With him, he going to get 30 and 12 assists and 13 rebounds.
“He causes so much problems for your defense because of all of the things that he does and the ball is touching his hand every single time.”
At 29 years old, Jokic is playing at the prime of his NBA career and the proof is in the stats and how much he is dominating opposing teams.
In 16 games this season, Jokic is averaging 30.1 points per game shooting a field-goal percentage of 56.4%, a three-point shooting percentage of 52.2% and a free-throw of 81.6%. He is also averaging 13 rebounds, 10.4 assists, 0.9 blocks and 1.7 steals.
He is averaging a triple-double and he is doing it with ease as he can easily find mismatches on the court not only due to his height and body but also because of his excellent vision.
Jokic is an anomaly with the strength and playmaking skills that fast point guards present. He isn’t fast because he doesn’t have to be. The best plays he makes for others are made when the play takes its time.
Jokic is currently third in the league in points per game, second in rebounds per game and second in assists per game.
If the season were to end today, it would be the sixth time in the history of the NBA that a player has averaged a triple-double. Teammate and Nuggets point guard Russell Westbrook has four of them with Oscar Robertson being the first ever. Jokic could make history, and he could do it with dominance.
Related Posts
