The Los Angeles Clippers wanted to make Nikola Jokic a scorer coming into their Wednesday night matchup. It made sense for a few reasons. Jokic’s best skill is his passing, and when he really gets going as a playmaker his Denver Nuggets teammates can get red-hot from behind the three-point line. Denver was also playing on the second night of a back-to-back coming off a win against the Sacramento Kings a day earlier with both games on the road. Jokic usually doesn’t want to carry the scoring burden for his team, so maybe the Clippers could catch him on an off-night in game No. 11 of an eternal 82-game regular season.
So much for that. Jokic punished the Clippers with one of the greatest regular season games of his legendary career, while proving that he’s still getting better at age-30 despite already being the best player alive. Jokic finished with 55 points, 12 rebounds, and six assists with only two turnovers on 18-of-23 shooting from the floor, 5-of-6 shooting from three-point range, and 14-of-16 shooting from the foul line. He had 52 points by the end of the third quarter.
It’s a masterclass performance from a true generational talent — he’s the best ‘90s-born player in the NBA — and it’s actually even better than it looks at first blush. Jokic is an absolute tear over his last six games in particular, and the numbers are getting silly. Please enjoy his highlights against the Clippers before we get into a deeper dive:
I had Clippers center Ivica Zubac as my Defensive Player of the Year last season, and Jokic turned him into stone. Clippers backup center Brook Lopez is one of the best defensive bigs of his generation, and he had no prayer against Jokic. The Clippers should be better suited than most teams to defend the Joker, and yet they had no chance.
Jokic just had 35 points, which was his season-high, in a win over the Kings 24 hours before his incredible performance against the Clippers. Road games on the second night of a back-to-back are often called a “schedule loss” in the NBA, because it’s hard to be at your best physically with so little rest. It’s a testament to Jokic’s fantastic conditioning that he was able to put together this masterpiece with no rest. Conditioning used to be the biggest question Jokic faced, but he’s been in top shape for about five years now, and he’s not relaxing despite all of his accomplishments.
Jokic already has three MVP awards to his name, as well as a pair of second-place finishes. It would be understandable if he wanted to coast during the regular season before turning it on for the playoffs and trying to win his second championship, but that’s not what the great ones do. Instead, Jokic has come out of the gates roaring, somehow taking his game to perhaps the highest level of his career. Here are a few stats to back it up:
Please enjoy even more Jokic highlights on this recent stretch:
There are amazing things happening in the NBA every night, but Jokic continues to tower over the rest of the league. The Nuggets are absolutely rolling at 9-2 on the season, second in the West behind only the 11-1 Oklahoma City Thunder. These two teams gave us a second-round playoff series for the ages last season. We might get an even better one in the conference finals this time around.
Jokic didn’t need to get any better, but he’s doing it anyway. This is what true greatness looks like. We’re witness a top-10 player of all-time in the middle of his prime. Appreciate this while you can.
