Nikola Jokic put up another monster performance Wednesday night in the Denver Nuggets 106-100 win vs Sacramento.
The Serbian led all players with 38 points, 18 rebounds and seven assists. Jokic has recently become the favorite to win the MVP award for the second consecutive year.
If he continues playing at that pace, Jokic could be with no doubt the MVP recipient for the 2021-22 regular season.
In the last nine games, the All-Star’s number are out of this world. He puts up 27.8 points, 14.8 rebounds and 9.0 assists, shooting 56.6 percent from the field and 31.1 percent with defenses being all over him.
Jokic is carrying an injury-crippled Nuggets roster to the postseason, being in play for the home advantage in the first round of the playoff.
The Nuggets haven’t had Jamal Murray available from the start of the season due to an injury that occurred last season. They also lost Michael Porter Jr. to a back injury very early in the season and, in fact, Denver have faced injury adversity throughout the season with several players missing games.
Jokic has been unstoppable again this year. He will likely become the first player in NBA history to average at least 25/13/6. He needs four more triple-doubles to become the leading center in the history of the NBA in this category.
Nikola Jokic is posting numbers that have never been seen in NBA history. 26.5 PPG 13.8 RPG 7.3 APG No player has averaged even 25/13/6 in a season. pic.twitter.com/KPISL2eEGH — StatMuse (@statmuse) December 14, 2021
This post from Stat Muse was tweeted last December. Jokic has amped up even better numbers since then. More specifically, He has put up 26.1 points, 13.9 rebounds and 8.1 assists through 59 games so far.
Furthermore, he has even showed great improvement in his defensive performances as his team is allowing 107.1 points per 100 possessions. This number was at 112.7 points per 100 possessions last season.
“We played against the reigning MVP, who probably should win it again,” Steve Kerr told reporters after Jokic decimated the Warriors with a 32/15/13 performance Monday night.
“I don’t have a vote, but Jokic is just an unbelievable player and was spectacular tonight. He makes all of his teammates better,” the three-times NBA champion continued.
“He makes defense so difficult because no matter what you do, he’s got a counter for it. He’s playing the game at such an easy pace and things look so smooth for him out there.”
Before his performance against the Warriors, the Serbian superstar put up 46 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists in the 138-130 OT win over the red-hot Pelicans.
Jokic has been outstanding all season, but, his latest performance may give him the edge in the MVP award race. The race for the award has become a three-man competition between Joel Embiid, Giannis Antetokounmo and the Nuggets’ superstar.
According to Basketball Reference, Jokic is leading the league in PER averaging a production of a 32.6 efficiency rating per minute tied with Giannis Antetokounmpo.
If both players continue at this pace, they will set a new record in PER. During last season, where he was named 2020-21 regular season MVP, Jokic had an average PER of 31.2, only the 11th-best individual season in NBA history.
The Nuggets’ superstar is also leading the league in Win Shares (12.4), Offensive Win Shares (8.6) and Win Shares per 48 minutes (.303)
“Obviously, Jokic just controls the whole game,” Kings head coach Alvin Gentry told reporters after the Wednesday contest between Sacramento and Denver.
“That guy is just a different beast. He doesn’t get shaken, he doesn’t get anything. He just does what they need to do to win the game.
He’s just playing at such a high level. He’s just a different guy. Watching him play, it’s hard to believe that he won’t be the MVP again,” the veteran head coach stated.
Going through a historic season, Jokic seems to have a stronger case regarding the MVP award this year. If he manages to push the Nuggets to the fifth or the fourth seed in the remaining games, then his candidacy is impossible to ignore.
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