'Best Player in the World': Nuggets Star Nikola Jokic Models Game After Spurs Greats
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Fresh off of what nearly half of the NBA deemed an "MVP-snub", Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic has made one thing clear throughout this year's playoffs:
He is simply unstoppable.
After averaging 24.5 points, 11.8 rebounds and 9.8 assists during the regular season — stats that have all increased in the postseason — Jokic once again put himself in the center of the conversation that has followed other NBA greats throughout their careers.
"Nikola Jokic is the best player in the world right now," ESPN's J.J. Redick said following the Nuggets' Game 1 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers. "[He's] the first player ever with 30-point triple-doubles and 70 percent shooting in consecutive games in NBA history. No one on the planet is a better basketball than Jokic is."
Sure, being consistently deemed the league's best player for multiple seasons in a row is beyond impressive, but Jokic's case is different because he's done so without even trying to put himself at the center of attention.
The 6-11 big man is without social media for no other reason than the fact that he thinks "it's a waste of time", and when he's asked about earning distinctions like the MVP Award, his responses usually follow the same rap that sets him apart from other NBA stars.
"I never play basketball to win individual awards," Jokic said. "So [the] MVP is just something that the people and media are trying to make a story out of. So, if it happens, it happens. I don't play for that. Like I said, as long as we're winning I'm happy."
This season, Jokic has certainly been happy. The Nuggets finished with the best record in the Western Conference, and currently hold a 1-0 series lead over the East's Champion Miami Heat.
But before he was the face of the NBA — the "best player in the world" — Jokic grew up praising some of the San Antonio Spurs' greats.
"Back in Serbia, I didn't follow the NBA that much," Jokic said after the Nuggets' Game 1 victory in the NBA Finals. "But when I came here, it was Tim Duncan, LaMarcus Aldridge, Boris Diaw [and] Dirk Nowitzki. Players like that."
On the court, the Nuggets star is best known for his incredible passes, which make it nearly impossible to double team him, and his court vision only adds to that.
When he isn't passing cross-court, behind his head or through your legs, however, he's scoring ... from everywhere.
Jokic was among the league's top centers in 3-point percentage — which put him amidst some of the non-centers that specialize in deep shots as well — but he could also score in the post like Duncan, the mid-range like Dirk and Aldridge and had the court presence that Diaw brought the Spurs in 2014.
It's no secret that Jokic was successful in his attempt to model his game after the former Spurs greats, but he has since brought his own twist to his style of play that has sparked debate among many players, coaches and analysts.
Is he really that good, and if so, how are teams struggling to stop him so much?
"He's playing the game and you think he's not serious, but he's so effective," NBA Hall-of-Famer Hakeem Olajuwon said. "He doesn't look strong, but I see he gets such deep post position. I think 'Maybe it's the mismatch,' but then he does the same thing against bigger guys."
"His shot, his fakes, they are very difficult to time," he added. "You don't know when he's faking and when it's real. He has tricks!"
Tricks or not, Jokic has earned his Joker nickname, and seemed to terrorize opposing defenses on the court.
So far in the playoffs, he's taken down big-time centers like Karl Anthony-Towns and Anthony Davis, but he's also stopped high-powered offenses featuring All-Stars like Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and LeBron James.
No team has seemed to find an answer to him yet, much like the rest of the league during the Spurs' heyday with Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili.
The Miami Heat are no exception, and as Jokic and the Nuggets continue their quest for their first NBA title, Miami is going to have to do something that no team has done yet this season: slow down the Joker.
It's a tall order, literally. But it also seems doable at times, until a demoralizing top-key 3-pointer breaks down your momentum. Or maybe it's a no-look dime under the basket to a streaking Aaron Gordon. Perhaps it's an offensive rebound leading to a passed-wide-open Michael Porter Jr. on the wing.
Either way, Jokic "has his tricks," and he isn't done showing them off yet. At least not until he he's holding the Larry O'Brien trophy — and likely the Bill Russell trophy, too.
"We know as a team that we are capable of [doing something]," Jokic said following the first NBA Finals game of his career. "We knew from day one that [this year] was going to be something different than the last eight ... but we, as a team, are not relaxed. It's really important for us to stay focused.
"Our mentality is not relaxed, it's just to get better."
Game 2 of the NBA Finals between the Denver Nuggets and Miami Heat is set for Sunday night at 7 p.m. CST, where Jokic will look to lead his team to a 2-0 series lead before heading back to South Beach.
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