This is the second game in a row Nikola Jokic has been one statistical unit short of a triple-double. At least this means he’s not a stat-padder. He was a rebound short last time, and you absolutely know that if he wanted to grab a rebound, he would grab a rebuond. Assists are iffier but, again, he could probably get one on demand if he wanted to. Just tell everyone in the huddle that they are going to shoot it when he passes it to them and if they don’t, he’ll get his older brothers that used to beat him up all the time to beat THEM up.
The most impressive thing about this performance, in my mind, is the blocks. Jokic is not a shot blocker; any shots he happens to block are because he is seven feet tall. He can’t jump. He can’t slide over for help defense very fast. So three blocks in one game, all of them legit, is sick. “Game-saving block with 7 seconds left” isn’t a phrase you would normally attribute to him.
The Nuggets barely pulled this one out (thanks Millsap, doesn’t mean you didn’t ruin this whole team when you arrived, though). Jokic could’ve been a little more aggressive scoring the ball early and they wouldn’t have needed any late-game heroics. Sometimes he needs reminding that he’s the near-MVP candidate on the team, not anyone else, and he needs to look for his shot.