Going by straight points, out of Nikola Jokic’s 25 career triple-doubles, this one is the second-worst. A year ago, he put up an 11/16/11 line, so that one’s the worst as of right now, although I don’t doubt that at some point in his lengthy NBA career that he will score just ten points while attaining a triple-double. Unless they change the rules regarding what counts as a triple-double, ten points will forever be the lowest. It’s called math. Maybe you learned it in school once upon a time.
However, if you consider the triple-double with the most field goals to be the best one, then this one is indeed the worst one. Jokic makes just four field goals in this game, three of them in the first quarter and one in the second. He doesn’t convert a field goal and only scores one point in the second half. If the Nuggets hadn’t pulled out the win, he would rightly receive some blowback for being a nonfactor scoring-wise in the second half of this game. Even diehard Jokic fans would have to wonder if the passivity that had plagued him earlier in the season was making a return.
The quality of the triple-double is redeemed by Jokic’s tenth assist, the one he needed to get the triple-double. Inbounding from the opposite baseline, Jokic threw the ball down the entire length of the court, hitting Malik Beasley for a layup. It was honestly reminiscent of those long outlet passes that Kevin Love was throwing for a while. Jokic has been throwing those passes with a bit more regularity in the past few games, which is great because full-court outlet passes are among the most aesthetic passes you can throw.