Nikola Jokic’s brilliant Game 5 is another step on his legendary path

Nikola Jokic was lauded by Michael Malone and his teammates after the two-time MVP tallied a Game 5 triple-double to put the Denver Nuggets a win away from advancing past the Phoenix Suns.

Malone read his stat line, his teammates cheered, and Jokic just sat there at his locker, spread out with his elbow above his head in a strange but seemingly comfortable pose.

Even in victory, even making history, Big Honey is just quirky and snug in his own skin.

On Wednesday, Jokic passed Wilt Chamberlain for most playoff triple-doubles in NBA history recorded by a center. The Nuggets big man scored 29, glassed 13 and threw 12 helpers as his team sped past the Suns 118-102, giving Denver a 3-2 series lead.

“If you say congrats to him (for passing Wilt) he probably would just look at you,” rookie Christian Braun remarked.

Aaron Gordon called it the quietest triple-double he’s ever seen. And the brunt of the work came in the second half as Jokic’s squad ran the Suns off the court with a 39-25 third quarter.

“I opened the game today I think really badly, I think I maybe was forcing it I don’t know,” Jokic said. “And then I just slowed it down and relaxed and let the game come to me and that happened.”

No NBA player has ever played like Jokic, few have been as laughably honest, and his name will be revered for all time. He’s unique in every way. Most of this has rung through all of Jokic’s eight seasons in Denver, but sometimes, it’s just good to lay out and appreciate uncommon brilliance.

After 10 games in this postseason, Jokic’s 30.6 points per game is sixth-most, his 13.1 rebounds a contest are second best and so too are his 9.5 assists a night. He’s a stat-stuffing machine, not a stat-padder as Malone mocked off to the media about after the game.

“Thank you,” Jokic told the TNT crew after they congratulated him on another triple-double. He then smiled and offered, “Where is Shaq on that list?”

Shaq joked back explaining why he’s not on that ranking, “I never passed.” And Jokic said, “I love you guys” and signed off.

"Where is Shaq in that list? Is Shaq in that list?" 😂😂

The Joker came for Shaq after passing Wilt for the most Playoff triple-doubles by a center 🤣 pic.twitter.com/lc0fCeGLFG

— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) May 10, 2023

In this series with the Suns, Jokic has become the first player in playoff history to total 175 or more points, 65 or more rebounds and 50 or more assists over a five-game span.

Jokic is squaring off against two of the great scorers in league history in Devin Booker and Kevin Durant and he simply raised his level to put them on the brink.

“I think sometimes we maybe take Nikola Jokic for granted because what he is doing is simply incredible,” Malone said. “Every single night. … Never gets rattled, Cool Hand Luke and we’re just so thankful he’s a Denver Nugget.”

Jokic’s postseason run thus far is the stuff of legends. The Nuggets are one win away from tying their franchise’s high-water mark in the NBA, a conference finals appearance. We’re only a handful of wins away from Jokic going down as an all-time playoff performer to match his gaudy regular season statistics.

“We need to have my mentality which is ‘this is must win for us,’” Jokic said about Thursday’s Game 6. “We need to not be desperate, I think we need to be playing aggressively—playing exactly how we played today. Because I think we didn’t play desperate. I think we played really aggressive and really smart.”

In this postseason Jokic has already avenged the Game 82 loss to the T-Wolves in 2018, he’s on the doorstep of payback for the Suns sweep two years ago, next up could be revenge against LeBron’s Lakers who downed the Nuggets three seasons ago, and then maybe a matchup with Joel Embiid in the NBA Finals for the rightful claim of league’s best player. All of this is a real path opening for the Nuggets and Nikola, a legendary story from a Jokester from Serbia and it’s all playing out in front of our Mile High eyes.

This story was first published by Sactown Sports‘ sister station, Denver Sports.

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