Never take triple-doubles for granted. Even in a year stuffed to the gills with them it’s still special seeing someone who can score, rebound and pass to cut up a defense at will. Nikola Jokic is an incredible talent, and his ability to pack that stat line easily and without striving for the numbers is pretty amazing.
Last night against the Los Angeles Clippers, without DeAndre Jordan or Blake Griffin, Denver’s centers combined for 27 points, 24 rebounds and 17 assists in 60 minutes. Mason Plumlee keeps showing why Denver thought he was a perfect roster fit, and his time on the court with Jokic is improving as well, in ways the Jurkic lineup that included Jusuf Nurkic could never quite manage. The Trail Blazers and the Nuggets both seem to have found the correct fit for their rosters, and that rivalry should be a ton of fun moving forward.
In the meantime, Jokic keeps up his historic march. You know how many players in NBA history have averaged 20 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists per 36 minutes? One. And you’re watching him in that #15 Nuggets jersey every game.
The video description credits Jokic with one fewer assists, by the way, and that’s not an accident. From the uploader, DownToBuck:
Yes, I am aware that the boxscore and play-by-play credit Nikola Jokic with 11 assists. I wouldn't make such a simple error (actually I would, you guys never notice if I'm missing an assist). Here's the deal: his 11th assist occurred on a play where he didn't touch the ball for the final 10 seconds of the possession, and multiple passes occurred before the shot was made. Unlike a couple games ago where he notched a laughable assist after Will Barton dribbled the length of the court to score, there is no way for an assist to be credited to Jokic in this case. So I didn't show it, utilizing a fancy thing called editorial discretion. He still gets the triple-double, though, so it's all good.
They also missed an assist earlier in the game, so I’m not quibbling with the total, bit it’s interesting. Jokic getting more extreme scorer favoritism, even if on his home court, is one step toward star credibility I suppose. Now we just need refs to call those fouls on Jokic so he can pad his stats from the line (he and Mudiay average the same amount of free throw attempts) and we’ll be getting somewhere.
Enjoy the video!
