Nikola Jokić really heated up before New Year’s Eve! The Serbian ace once again had historic numbers, this time in a match against the lowly Utah Jazz, in a far from easy game for an incomplete and, it seems, for bigger challenges this season, unworthy of the Nuggets.
But when it’s tough, we know – Jokić! The MVP of the strongest league in the world definitely had his night, despite a slightly weaker shooting percentage.
Nikola took responsibility upon himself, decided on attacks in the finish, shot, rebounded, passed the ball, which led him to yet another, a total of 143 in the regular part of the league, as many as 13 this season: 36 points (shooting 33-14, 9-3 for three and 6-5 free throws), 22 rebounds and 11 assists.
He was followed by Porter with 21, and Brown and Murray with 20 points each (10 assists), but our national team player was definitely given the greatest support on the court by veteran Russell Westbrook with 16 points, 10 rebounds and 10 successful passes, which raised his balance of triple-doubles to an amazing 201!
In the losing team, Clarkson and Sexton had 24 and 22 points respectively, while Lauri Markkanen recorded 17, with a disastrous rebounding performance of only 1 rebound.
Text: Antonije Kovačević, Photo: AP Photo / Rick Egan