Jokic’s recent surge

Nikola Jokic just had a 14-point triple-double in 31 minutes, which is the basketball version of a pianist barely touching the keys and still filling the whole room. Denver beat Memphis 136-119 on April 8, and it was Jokic’s 34th triple-double of the season. (espn.com) The strange part is that 14 points was the quiet part of the night. He also grabbed 15 rebounds and handed out 10 assists, so Denver got extra possessions and easy baskets from the same player on the same trip down the floor. (espn.com) Over his last six games, Jokic has been sitting around 27 points, 14 rebounds, and 11 assists a night, and the game log shows why those averages don’t look fluky. In that stretch he posted lines like 35-14-13 against Portland, 40-8-13 against San Antonio, and 33-15-12 against Utah. (espn.com) (basketball-reference.com) Most centers live near the rim and finish plays that guards create for them. Jokic is listed at 6-foot-11 and 284 pounds, but he is leading the entire National Basketball Association in assists at 10.9 per game while also leading it in rebounds at 12.9 per game. (espn.com) (espn.ph) That combination is what makes this stretch feel so odd even by Jokic standards. The league usually splits those jobs between a small playmaker like Detroit’s Cade Cunningham, who is second in assists at 9.9, and a paint specialist like New York’s Karl-Anthony Towns, who is second in rebounds at 11.9. (espn.ph) Jokic is not piling this up on a drifting team. Denver is 51-28 and sitting third in the Western Conference, and the win over Memphis was the Nuggets’ 10th straight as they tightened their grip on that seed. (espn.com) (espn.co.uk) The scoring load is also lighter than the video-game stat lines make it sound. Jokic is seventh in the league at 28.0 points per game, which means he is not chasing the scoring title while he racks up rebounds and assists; he is bending games without needing 35 shots. (espn.com) (espn.ph) That is why a 14-point night can still feel like domination. Against Memphis, his 10th assist came in the third quarter, he did not play in the fourth, and Denver still won by 17. (espn.co.uk) By April 9, Jokic had already locked up a triple-double average for the second straight season, and the Memphis game pushed his career total to 198 triple-doubles. The only thing left for the regular season is whether he finishes the job and becomes the first player to top the league in both rebounds and assists at once. (espn.co.uk) (espn.ph)