Nikola Jokic sat in front of his locker on Friday, calmly scrolling through his phone, seemingly unimpressed that 30 minutes earlier he made NBA history.
The three-time NBA Most Valuable Player had the league’s first 30-20-20 triple-double in the Denver Nuggets’ 149-141 overtime victory over the Phoenix Suns.
Jokic had 31 points, 21 rebounds and a career-high 22 assists.
Photo: AP
“It’s not supposed go that way,” Jokic said. “I was talking to [Aaron Gordon] and he said to me: ‘That was a quiet 30 points.’ I didn’t do anything special, just seemed like everyone was in flow.”
Jokic tied his franchise record with his 29th triple-double of the season and he reached it just 1 minute, 20 seconds into the second half with his 10th rebound. He was approaching the triple-double early, finishing the first quarter with 10 points, six assists and six rebounds, and had 13, nine and eight at halftime.
The 30-year-old from Serbia is averaging a triple-double with 19 games left in the season. His 28.9 points, 12.9 rebounds and 10.6 assists per game all rank in the top three in the NBA.
Photo: Ron Chenoy / Imagn Images
“I can’t describe him, so don’t ask me to,” Denver coach Michael Malone said. “The guy is just an incredible player, and when you are one of one in this league, with the tremendous history of this league, that says a lot. There’s a lot of good players in this league, but Nikola, in my opinion, is just in a class all by himself.”
His fast start to overtime lifted the Nuggets after they had blown a 21-point lead. He had five points, five assists and three rebounds in the extra period, playing nearly 45 minutes overall.
He made a turnaround to begin overtime, fed Jamal Murray for two baskets, and assisted on a dunk and layup by Christian Braun in a 13-second span.
“He’s just one of a kind,” Braun said. “You’ll never see something like this ever again — ever. You’ll never see a player that does the things he does night in and night out.”
Jokic’s previous high in assists was 19, which happened on Feb. 24 against the Indiana Pacers. He surpassed that on Michael Porter Jr’s dunk that gave Denver a 139-130 lead with 1 minute, 18 seconds left.
Jokic has 149 career triple-doubles and Friday was the seventh time this season he has had at least 15 points, 15 rebounds and 15 assists. That tied Oscar Robertson for the most in one season. His 22 assists are the most by a center in a game, but he is far short of Scott Skiles’ NBA record of 30, a mark Jokic said he is not concerned about.
“I have different problems than that right now,” he said.
Elsewhere on Friday, it was:
‧ Clippers 105, Knicks 95
‧ Heat 104, Timberwolves 106
‧ Hornets 117, Cavaliers 118
‧ Kings 127, Spurs 109
‧ Mavericks 111, Grizzlies 122
‧ Raptors 118, Jazz 109
‧ Thunder 107, Trail Blazers 89
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
Arne Slot has denied that Darwin Nunez was dropped from Liverpool’s win against West Ham because of a training-ground row with a member of his coaching staff. The Liverpool head coach on Sunday last week said that Nunez was absent from the 2-1 victory at Anfield, having felt unwell during training the day before, although the striker sat behind the substitutes throughout the game. Speculation has been rife that the Uruguay international, whom Slot criticized for his work rate against Wolves and Aston Villa in February, was left out for disciplinary reasons. Asked on Friday to clarify the situation, Slot said: “He
RSS