Karl-Anthony Towns was mad in this game. Mad about all the attention Nikola Jokic has been getting recently, mad that he himself is not getting as much attention. KAT was so mad that he kind of dominated this matchup of young star centers, putting up 32-12-7-4-1 versus Jokic’s 18-8-4-1-3.
It is with the resolution of tonight’s bigman battle that I declare hype for Nikola Jokic officially tempered. No longer can we assume Wilt-like statlines for the remainder of his career; we might have to settle for Kareem-like statlines instead. I know, I know. This may be a tough pill to swallow for diehard Joksters. But we have to be realistic in our expectations.
18 and 8 with 4 sweet dimes is still a good game, even if he got outplayed by a fellow young stud. No reason to panic just yet and downgrade him to Olajuwon-like. Okay? Everyone just calm down. If we can make it through the beginning of the season where he was getting no minutes, we can make it through this.