Superstar center Nikola Jokic had another huge game on Tuesday as the Nuggets took a 3-2 lead in their series with Phoenix, racking up 29 points, 13 rebounds, and 12 assists for his fourth triple-double of the playoffs. Jokic’s 10th career postseason triple-double moved him ahead of Wilt Chamberlain for the most triple-doubles by a center in NBA playoff history, writes Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.
Discussing Jokic’s historic performance after the game, Nuggets head coach Michael Malone made light of the in-season discourse surrounding his center’s triple-doubles, joking that he “must be stat-padding.” Malone also made sure to stress how much the franchise appreciates Jokic and his “incredible” performance.
“He makes everyone around him better,” Malone said. “Never gets rattled. ‘Cool Hand Luke.’ And we’re just so thankful that he’s a Denver Nugget.”
Between Games 4 and 5, Jokic was hit with a $25K fine for a brief sideline incident involving Suns owner Mat Ishbia, but Jokic and Ishbia had a friendly exchange prior to Game 5 and clearly don’t have any bad blood, notes Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. During a TNT interview after Tuesday’s win, Jokic was asked about that pregame interaction with Ishbia and joked that he was trying to see if the Suns owner would pay his fine (Twitter link via Youngmisuk).
Here’s more from around the Northwest:
- As great as Jokic has been against Phoenix, the contributions of the Nuggets‘ role players – starting with a pair of veterans acquired last summer – shouldn’t be overlooked, writes Bennett Durando of The Denver Post (subscription required). Bruce Brown‘s 25 points and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope‘s strong defense on Devin Booker helped Denver secure a Game 5 victory.
- While fans in Minnesota were upset about Jaden McDaniels‘ absence from this year’s All-Defensive teams, the bigger concern for the Timberwolves is that Rudy Gobert‘s play this past season didn’t earn the three-time Defensive Player of the Year a single vote, says Michael Rand of The Star Tribune. It remains to be seen whether Gobert was more affected by health issues than he let on his year or whether his decline has begun, Rand writes.
- Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman believes it’s unlikely that the Thunder dip into their stash of future draft picks to make a trade for a core player this offseason. In Mussatto’s view, head of basketball operations Sam Presti is more likely to use his draft assets to make sure he gets the player(s) he wants in this year’s draft, like he did when he traded three protected first-rounders for the No. 11 pick in the 2022 draft.
The overpay trade for Gobert just further cements the inept ownership of the Timberpuppies by Glen Taylor and the fools he has hired time and time again to run the team’s basketball operations. Their current state is the result of a succession of bad moves and unless A-Rod and his group clean house, the next half dozen or so years will result in nothing but disappointment for any fans left.
If I was the ARod group I would of backed out after that trade.
LOL. It was the A-Rod group that pushed to hire Connelly away from DEN, and make him one of the highest paid executives in the sport. They funded it even agreeing to give him an equity interest. Connelly was the architiect of the Gobert deal.
So, even when Taylor can no longer make bad hires to head up basketball operations, the amount of time spent by A-Rod and his ownership group “learning” from Taylor has resulted in them paying through the nose for yet another head idiot. Whose first move was, in a state of insanity – to justify the ridiculous contract he received, traded 4 players, 5 first round draft choices (including Kessler), and the right for Utah to swap 2026 first round draft choices with the Timberpuppies.
Just how drunk was Connelly anyway???
Nice to know the mediocrity will be continued until around 2030, so I can continue to completely write off following and having any interest in NBA basketball in Minnesota until at least then.
Bruce Brown is playing 24 minutes a game in this series vs 33 mins/game for KCP. Per 36 mins Brown would be scoring 19.5 pts vs 9.3 pts for KCP. Nuggets could start Brown instead of KCP. That would help keep Murray fresh…Brown could run point every few possessions. Murray could still sit early and run the second unit. A rested Murray is a better player…he’ll shoot better if he gets to be off ball some. Plus, the Nuggets really need to outscore the Suns…keeping the Suns from scoring ain’t working all that well. Brown is probably the Nuggets best back cutter. Play him with Jokic for 36 minutes a game and he’ll almost definitely score 20. Murray will still be able to score at least 25. Anyhow, just a thought. I’d still play KCP major minutes/25 to 35 a game.
In the games they won Denver held Phoenix to 107, 87, and 102 which are all well below what the Suns have averaged since the Durant trade. In the games the Nuggets lost the Suns scored and 129. So I’d say keeping the Suns from scoring has worked out pretty well.
Yes you are right on the fact that the Nuggets have to outscore the Suns is true. In fact every team that has ever won a playoff game or any game for that matter has scored more points than the opposing team no matter the sport. So yes if they score less points then the Suns they’ll definitely lose.
Jokic MVP