Dallas Mavs’ Luka Doncic Reveals What He Loves Most About Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic
Friday night’s In-Season Tournament matchup with the Denver Nuggets meant a lot to the Dallas Mavericks, despite enduring a 125-114 loss. Not only did they get valuable experience on the road against a championship-level team, but they also learned more about their weaknesses and what they must improve to reach that level.
For Mavs superstar Luka Doncic, a game against the Nuggets means even more, as he has a brother-like relationship with reigning Finals MVP Nikola Jokic. After Friday’s game Doncic spoke about competing against Jokic and what he likes most about his Serbian friend.
"I think everybody knew him before [the MVPs and NBA Finals],” Doncic said. “He's not really on the media stuff a lot, but all the players, all the coaches know how special he is. Everybody knows how special he is. … He’s right now, probably the best basketball player in the world."
Luka Doncic talks to Nikola Jokic during the Dallas Mavericks’ game against the Denver Nuggets on Friday night.
C. Morgan Engel/Getty Images
Doncic and Jokic put up classic stat lines in their head-to-head duel. Doncic finished with 34 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists, despite only shooting 11-24 and committing a nine turnovers. Jokic put up 33 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists while shooting 14-16 overall.
"It's great. It's always fun with him,” Doncic said of playing against Jokic. "Of course, he’s an amazing basketball player, but he's a great guy. That's what I love the most about him. Just always joking around. He's just a simple and very amazing man.”
The Mavs still have a long way to go to get to the same level the Nuggets are currently at, but maybe when/if that time comes, Doncic and Jokic, who are arguably two of the top three players on the planet right now, can add some epic postseason duels to their head-to-head portfolio. Basketball fans everywhere should be hoping we get to witness that at some point.
