Denver Nuggets players after winning Game 1 of the Finals (from Twitter)
Nikola Jokic is different in the landscape of other NBA stars, and his performance tonight (Thursday through Friday) in Game 1 of the playoff finals distilled well what makes him so. Joker finished the 93-104 win over Miami with a stat line of 27 points, 14 assists and 10 rebounds, but even those stats fail to express just how sublime his game was.
It wasn't just the statistic that impressed, but also the way he got there: his first shot from the field came just after 10 minutes on the court, and in the first half he mostly navigated and managed the game, focusing on handing out incredible assists to his teammates. Jokic finished the game with just 12 shots from the field, but still managed to be the most dominant player on the court by a huge margin. And in the final minutes, when Miami seemed to be back in business, he took over the game and decided it finally.
"The most important thing is to win, and I try to win in every way I can. I don't have to shoot the basket all the time, and I feel like in general I don't have to score a ton of points to affect the game," Jokic explained of his approach, which is not always common among NBA stars.
In his own way. Jokic (Photo by Getty Images, Matthew Stockman)
"He scores, delivers, leads the team. It's super impressive. That's the exact definition of how to let the game get to you," Shaquille O'Neal explained at the end, and was impressed by Jokic. "Most stars come to games like this with the attitude of, 'I want to shoot, and as much as possible,' but he thinks to himself, 'I'll give my friends opportunities.' That's exactly how a great player plays. He makes his teammates better, too."
Jokic became the second player ever to reach a triple-double in his first game in the NBA Finals. The previous one was Jason Kidd, another triple-double machine, who did it in the 2002 finals. Jokic now has 9 triple-doubles in the current playoffs, the most ever. Overall, he's reached a triple-double in 7 of the last 9 games.
Even before the game, Tracy McGrady predicted that Jokic would lead Denver to a historic championship and unanimously win the Finals MVP. After tonight's win, it certainly looks like a likely scenario. "He's so good, I've never seen a player like him. He runs the game like Jason Kidd. He's close to winning his first championship and becoming MVP," McGrady said.
Draymond Green also gushed about Jokic before the game, saying, "Everyone already agrees that lately, he's been playing like one of the greatest players of all time."
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Denver opened the Finals series with a 93-104 victory over Miami, a triple-double for Jokic
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"That's the beauty of Nicolas. He never imposes himself on the game," coach Mike Malone praised him, and Jamal Murray, who assisted him offensively with 26 points, added: "That's the way he's always played. He lets the game flow to him, he lets things get to him, he only takes what he can."
Jokic finished the game with 14 assists, the most ever for a center in a Finals game. He and Murray accounted for 87 of Denver's 104 points or assists, and so far Miami doesn't seem to have any answers. "We're a better defensive team than people think. They don't give us enough credit for that," Murray declared, saying that "you can't get that far in the playoffs and in the regular season without being a great defensive team."
The Nuggets are now 0-9 at home in the playoffs, and could become the third team ever to win a championship without losing a single home game in the postseason, behind Jordan and Pippen's Chicago and Curry and Thompson's Golden State. "We're a good home team because we're just a good team. We do a great job at home games. We have so many weapons, we have so many good players. There is no player you can just leave alone, because anyone can punish. The offense flows, and it's just fun."
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