Underneath exactly the exact same basket Nikola Jokic rattled with a thunderous dunk that brought down the house, there sat linebacker Von Miller, wearing a No. 15 Nuggets jersey.
In the first row near midcourt, Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon leaned forward in a prime seat, savoring each one of Joker’s 16 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists as Denver thumped San Antonio 108-90 Tuesday night.
Game knows game. Game respects game.
But you don’t must be a football or hockey star to love the man who will one day bring the Nuggets the first championship in franchise history.
“M-V-P! M-V-P! M-V-P! ” chanted 19,520 joyful spirits in the Pepsi Center as Jokic stepped to the foul line during the next quarter. He buried both free throws. And the party started in earnest, with Denver well on its way on the verge of advancing in the playoffs for the first time in a decade.
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The Nuggets have San Antonio reeling toward checkmate. How can we know? San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich, who has elevated grouchy into an art form, was gracious in defeat.
Even though Nuggets coach Michael Malone has gone to great lengths to laud his adversary’s strategic genius, Pop seems.
“That was my finest Bobby Fischer,” joked Popovich, admitting he had no answers for the Nuggets in Game 5. “Tell Uncle Mikey that. ”
But need to know the basketball savant in this series?
It’s Jokic.
“High basketball I.Q.” Popovich said.
While Popovich really meant it as a compliment, hasn’smart that was t been the word to damn a participant with praise, from Larry Bird to Steve Nash? Although Jokic is averaging nearly a triple-double (19.6 points, 11.6 rebounds, 9.0 assists) in the first playoff series of his pro career, the dumb that seem to scream loudest on the world wide web also refuse to see his greatness.
Nuggets-Spurs series program Game 1: San Antonio 101, Denver 96
Game 2: Denver 114, San Antonio 105
Game 3: San Antonio 118, Denver 108
Game 4: Denver 117, San Antonio 103
Game 5: Denver 108, San Antonio 90
Game 6: Denver at San Antonio, 6 p.m. Thursday, TNT/ALT
*Game 7: San Antonio at Denver, TBD April 27, TNT
* If necessary
“I don’t know how you miss him. You miss the big, white guy in the room. He is a player that is terrific. You hear everyone talk about these other players, rightfully so. The league is filled with terrific players. But what Nikola is currently performing in his playoff debut has not happened very often in the background of this game,” Malone said.
It s impossible to ignore the big elephant in the room. Jokic is one of the league’s five best players in 2019.
“I expect … that people are tuning in and watching us, and saying: “Man, this child Nikola Jokic is for real. ’ We know this, and I think it’s about time everyone else begin to realize this,” Malone said.
Yes, the Joker is slow and gooey and white as Elmer’s adhesive. But Joker has turned into the molten fire that swept away any notion youth could be used by his teammates .
“Sometimes you get lost in the numbers. A lot of the folks out there love Nikola, since he’s an dream,” Malone said. “But the stats was that fire, that toughness down and what & rsquo; s really impressed me beyond the numbers. He’s shown true grit. ”
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When the all-league teams have been announced, it’ll be interesting to see if Joker’s lack of muscle tone and slight leaping ability downgrades him from a spot in the all-NBA starting five, alongside James Harden and Kevin Durant. And wouldn’t that be a rich injustice plays a game than the Nuggets’ franchise player?
It doesn’t help that in the age of Instagram, Jokic is also a self-promoter that is terrible.
“I don’t talk much,” Jokic said.
But, in this game, when Denver declared to San Antonio that ’s the boss, he was unusually loud.
“Yelling at everyone — ‘Rebound! Box out! ’ — whatever was in my mind,” Jokic said. “I just yelled. Just to make some noise. ”
What’s the secret sauce that makes the Joker so amazing?
He has the uncanny ability to make everybody else feel like a hero.
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