It wasn’t the heavyweight bout everybody anticipated when the Philadelphia 76ers traveled to tackle the Denver Nuggets Monday evening, as each Joel Embiid and James Harden have been out with accidents. However, that did not cease Nikola Jokic from including to the historical past books in Denver’s 116-111 win at dwelling.
After placing up 25 factors, 17 rebounds and 12 assists, Jokic joined Wilt Chamberlain and Oscar Robertson as the one different gamers in NBA historical past to whole 10+ video games in a season of a minimum of 20 factors, 15 rebounds and 10 assists. What’s even crazier about Jokic’s stat line from Monday evening is he reached a triple-double earlier than the fourth quarter even began. Jokic’s 10 video games this season of a 20-15-10 stat line can also be greater than the remainder of the league has mixed (six).
After the sport, when requested how he would assess his triple-double, Jokic, all the time a person of few phrases when discussing his efficiency, mentioned with a shrug, “I believe it was good; we gained the sport, so it was good.”
‘Good’ is actually an understatement. Jokic placed on a masterclass towards the Sixers. Without Embiid within the lineup, Jokic scored with ease within the paint, and with no rim protector down low, he was in a position to feed guys reducing to the basket for highlight-reel finishes like this one which Bruce Brown threw down:
But the third quarter is the place Jokic actually confirmed why he is the two-time reigning MVP, and a contender to win the award once more this season. After a primary half the place the Serbian huge man took a again seat by way of scoring, Jokic rattled off 14 factors within the third quarter to assist stretch Denver’s lead as much as 22 factors. He took benefit of mismatches when smaller defenders like Tyrese Maxey or De’Anthony Melton tried their finest to include him below the basket.
He additionally confirmed the tiny little bit of quickness he does possess to chop previous a slacking PJ Tucker for this simple bucket.
Safe to say Tucker did not count on Jokic to get by him that shortly.
Though the Nuggets almost squandered a 22-point lead on the finish of the fourth quarter, Denver managed to tug out a win, enhancing their document to 51-24 on the season. For Jokic, it was simply the most recent efficiency to bolster his MVP case as he appears to be the primary participant since Larry Bird to win the award three consecutive years in a row.
