Nikola Jokic keeps proving he might just be playing the best season of his career as he leads the Nuggets, who are third in the Western Conference standings. At the start of the week, the Serbian posted a career-high 19 assists, while adding 18 points and 9 rebounds to his impactful stat line.
On Monday night, Denver beat Indiana 125-116, with strong contributions by teammates like Aaron Gordon who dropped 25 points. As for the Nuggets big man, the win marked his 28th career performance with at least 15 assists, which are the most by a non-guard in league history.
“The guy is just an amazing, complete basketball player,” said his coach Michael Malone. “And I think the most remarkable thing is not just 19 assists, but the satisfaction and joy that Nikola gets from making his teammates better. And he’d be happy getting 19 assists … and us winning [more] than any other superstar that I’ve ever come across.”
The Colorado squad used a balanced attack this Monday to come back from their weekend defeat against the Lakers, which ended the team’s nine-game winning streak. Nevertheless, Nikola was still the star of the show against the Pacers. “He’s a humble person and understands that this whole thing is always much bigger than the individual.
“It’s the collective. But 19? … What is that? … He’s just an incredible player,” Malone kept praising his player. “And what a luxury to have when you can just play through him down the stretch of a close game and you know something good is going to happen each and every time.”
The other contributions came from teammates Michael Porter Jr., who hit 19 points and won 11 rebounds, or even young Christian Braun by adding 17 points, and of course, Jamal Murray’s 16 points for Denver.
On the other hand, Myles Turner lead the Pacers with 23 points, while his star teammate Tyrese Haliburton had 19 points and 15 assists, Pascal Siakam dropped 19 points and Aaron Nesmith 17.
