Is this Jokic’s best season?
How talented do you have to be to pull it off and still manage to deliver the key pass for your team’s victory? Only a few can do it.
In that game, the Serbian center – the NBA’s reigning Most Valuable Player – finished with 49 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists.
He is so dominant and versatile that, wherever he is on the court, you have to find a way to neutralize him. The problem is that almost no one can do it.
At just 26 years old, the center is on the verge of becoming the first player in NBA history to average 25 PPJ, 13 RPJ and 7 APJ.
According to ESPN Datos, if things continue as they are, his PER (player efficiency rating or valuation, as it is known in European leagues) would be the highest in a season since the statistic became available in 1951-52.
He is also the only player to record 5,000 rebounds and 3,000 assists in the first 500 games of his career.
Jokic, who records a triple double (27.2 PPJ, 12.2 RPJ and 10.6 APJ) in his last 10 games, leads the league this season in that statistic with 12.
He finished with seven of them in January and became the fifth player to do so in a calendar month, joining Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson, Michael Jordan and Russell Westbrook.
The case for his second MVP
Jokic’s basketball ‘IQ’ is so quick and accurate that, according to the NBA website, he has the ball in his hands just 2.5 seconds per possession. But at the same time, he leads the league in possessions with 100.5. Impressive.
In other words, simply put, no one in the NBA touches the ball more than the Serbian, yet no one has less possession of the ball.
He sees the play before it happens. That’s why Denver is so lethal in the half court. The entire offense revolves around him.
“I think Jokic is the most underrated MVP in NBA history. If you open up a dictionary and look up the word consistency, Jokic’s name will pop up next to it,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said.
Their best offensive options outside of Jokic are Will Barton (15.3 PPJ) and Monte Morris (12.6 PPJ and 4.2 APJ). Also Aaron Gordon (14.5 PPJ and 5.6 RPJ).
To win an MVP you have to combine several factors. Among them, numbers that stand out above the rest, his team advancing to the postseason and a great story. Jokic meets all of those requirements. But if he doesn’t win it, no one will be able to erase his historic stretch that puts him on the podium of best seasons in league history.
He’s already on track to cap it off with the most efficient. Meanwhile, the Nuggets visit the Utah Jazz on Wednesday having won eight of their last 11 games and averaging 121.9 PPJ along the way.
