This is the kind of game that helps build narratives. On a game-to-game basis, narratives aren’t important, but they sure as heck are when talking about a player’s legacy, or when discussing certain candidates for certain awards. The stage was set: top two teams by record in the league, led by two sorta-MVP-candidate-ish players, Nikola Jokic and Kawhi Leonard. The narrative would’ve been enhanced if this game was on ESPN, but whoever won was going to have a great boost to their narrative.
Jokic came out on top in the “won the game” category, which is all that matters even if he got ouscored, outrebounded, and equalassisted by Leonard. Now, when people think about if maybe he should be considered for the MVP award, they can remember the time he faced the best team in the league with an injury-diminished squad and took them down easily.
Despite this performance, he’ll have to do some more work if he wants to undo the damage he did to his narrative by staging a mini protest where he didn’t want to shoot during a few games. And it can’t hurt to try and not look so mopey out there. I know that’s just how he is, but, just like in a professional office work environment, body language means a lot. It’s important to always maintain erectness.