This has been a banner year for Denver Nuggets star center Nikola Jokic.
He averaged nearly a triple and came close to winning his third consecutive regular season MVP award while leading his team to the best record in the Western Conference, and is now three wins away from its first-ever NBA championship.
He’s already by far the leading triple-doubles qualifier this year, owning three times as many other players combined, according to StatMuse.
Most triple these qualifiers:
9- Nikola Jokic
3 – any other person combined pic.twitter.com/Bdn5GUPO4b– StatMuse (statmuse) June 6, 2023
The Serb has actually averaged a triple-double in the postseason so far with 30.4 points, 12.9 rebounds and 10.1 assists per game while shooting 54.5 percent overall and 46.9 percent from 3-point range.
The Nuggets opened the NBA Finals as heavy favorites against the Miami Heat, but now find themselves with a 1-1 tie heading to Miami for the next two games.
Jokic had 27 points, 10 rebounds and 14 assists in Game 1, but the Heat managed just four assists in Game 2 on Sunday.
The game plan against Jokic seemed to limit his passing and get him into the leading scorer level, and it worked, as he scored 41 points on Sunday, but it wasn’t enough, as Miami won by 3 points.
The center is just starting to get the recognition he deserves, and some are starting to talk about him as one of the best players in NBA history.
If he’s going to endorse that view, he’ll have to lead the Nuggets to three more wins in this series before it’s over.
the next:
Nikola Jokic is back at the top of the NBA in the fun category