The biggest obstacle to Nikola Jokic being named MVP may be that he won the award the past two seasons, writes Mike Singer of The Denver Post. Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain and Larry Bird are the only players to capture MVP honors in three consecutive years, and it hasn’t happened since 1984-86. Voters tend to look for alternatives rather than casting their ballots for the same player every season.
Nuggets coach Michael Malone called that type of thinking “lazy” in a pre-game meeting with reporters Sunday night. He also expressed disgust with having to repeatedly make the argument for his center, adding, “I don’t really care what people think about Nikola.”
After Malone’s comments, Jokic bolstered his MVP candidacy with 30 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists in a win over the Celtics. It was the league-best ninth triple-double of the year for Jokic, who is averaging 25.7 points, 10.9 rebounds and 9.5 assists per game — numbers very similar to his past MVP seasons.
There’s more from Denver:
- With Sunday’s matchup featuring the top teams in each conference, the Nuggets showed a defensive intensity that was lacking in their November meeting in Boston, Singer adds. Denver focused on closing out on three-point shooters and limited the Celtics to 3-of-19 from long distance in the first half. The defense got a boost from Bruce Brown, who was starting in place of Jamal Murray and who always gets excited about facing his hometown team. “I definitely look forward to (these games), just me being there, me growing up a Celtics fan,” Brown said.
- Bones Hyland has joined the campaign for Aaron Gordon to make the All-Star Game (video link from HoopsHype). Gordon has been the Nuggets’ second-best player this season, averaging 17.3 points and 6.6 rebounds in 31 games. “He does the junkyard work for us, and I feel like he doesn’t get a lot of praise,” Hyland said. “So definitely AG an All-Star for sure.”
- Nuggets assistant Ryan Saunders will make his first trip to Minnesota tonight since being fired as the Timberwolves‘ head coach in 2021, per Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. Saunders took a year sabbatical from coaching, turning down multiple offers, before joining Denver’s staff this season. “Looking forward to seeing fans that I remember seeing in the crowd, especially before COVID hit,” Saunders said. “That’s something that you kind of forget about too. In professional sports, jobs come and go, and all of a sudden you might be in a different situation than you were the day prior. The people you saw every day, the ushers, the security guards, the parking attendants, people who are just coming by your office to say hello from Mayo Clinic Square, you don’t see them anymore. I’m really looking forward to seeing that.”
When opponents game plan is to close out on Celtics three point shooters, Celts are done. Suddenly Jason Tatum goes 0-4, 0-7, etc. from three and our others can’t make a one. Like last night’s loss against Denver. Net, net, we need a different offensive plan for opponents closing out on threes. ADDITIONALLY we need to close out better ourselves on opponents three point shooters instead of letting them shoot wide open threes. Any NBA team can make wide open threes.
Look at the amazing stats from last night’s uncompetitive loss. We beat Denver in almost every catagory except threes. Denver shot 56.7% from three and we shot 27.3%!
Go Celtics!
The main problem this season is the Celtics’ defense. Their home heavy early season schedule has helped them stay at #1 so far, but 9 of the next 12 are on the road.
Luckily, 6 of those 9 road games are vs teams with losing records. But GSW has given the blueprint for beating the Celtics and the Nuggets used it to perfection last night.
It’s the absence of mid-range game, particularly from a player like Tatum, who’s talented enough to have an elite one. It was their Achilles heal in last year’s playoffs that finally caught up with them in the Finals (but could easily have cost them either of the prior two series). If its by design, the design needs to change if they don’t want more playoff disappointments.
Worth noting the crazy efficiency of Jokic’ stats. He gets those numbers, routinely, missing no more than a shot or two. The team is winning and he’s part of it. His usage rate is fairly high, but he’s often just moving the ball around – lots of his teammates have good assist numbers. It’s not in his hands the way it is with other MVP candidates.
For those who haven’t watched a game yet, he just controls the pace of the game in a selfless and fundamentally sound way. It’s very peak Spurs-like. Tim Duncan might be the best comparison for Jokic. Duncan with three point range and LeBron vision.
The ongoing inconsistency of the voters for MVP is problematic, because it’s largely based on whatever the media’s prevailing narrative at the time the votes happen, not on any set criteria.
The recent media push for Tatum (who leads the league in zero statistical categories) has been absurd when compared to early favorite Doncic who leads in 9 categories and Jokic who leads in four.
Agreed. Doncic is MVP so far and has less help than Tatum and Jokic.