Imagine Oklahoma City Thunder coach Mark Daigneault entering the locker room before the game against the Denver Nuggets, and on a road trip to Colorado at that, saying to Topić: “Nikola, son, tighten your laces, you’re starting tonight instead of Shai!”.
For the first time in his NBA career, the young Serbian national team player got the opportunity to be a starter in a game of the world’s strongest basketball league, replacing Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the starting five. He prepared for this in the G League, where as a starting playmaker he was the absolute leader of the team and the best player, and he transferred that experience to the NBA floor and played superbly. If an NBA career can be judged by the first start, there was plenty to see here.
While the Oklahoma City Thunder were defeated by the Denver Nuggets on the road 127:107, it’s a question of whether that matters to anyone this evening. In the ninth game of his NBA career, his first as a starter, Nikola Topić also played convincingly his best match so far. He finished the game with a double-double performance, recording 14 points (4/9 for two, 2/3 for three), two rebounds, 11 assists, and four steals. He also had eight turnovers. He will remember this game for a long time, and not just him, but also many Oklahoma City Thunder fans and NBA enthusiasts. All of this was watched from the sidelines by Nikola Jokić, dressed in a purple suit, who did not play in this match.
Strange news arrived before the start of the game in Colorado as David Adelman announced that none of the Nuggets’ starters would play against the Thunder. A decision was made for everyone to skip this game, which could have been a potential spectacle between two champions from the last four seasons. Especially since NBA fans always love to see the MVP duel between Nikola Jokić and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, two players around whom constant debates are held regarding who is the most valuable and who is the best player in the world. There was also a risk regarding individual honors for Jokić because if he doesn’t play at least 15 minutes against the San Antonio Spurs in the last match, he will be left without all awards. And all of us were deprived of the MVP battle. Since Denver decided to play without all starters, Oklahoma didn’t want to risk their best players either. Although, one starter did play, Lu Dort.
That’s why the opportunity opened up for Nikola Topić to start, who from the beginning of the game was handing out balls left and right and really brilliantly setting up his teammates. He had a small problem with turnovers, which is somewhat normal when you are the playmaker for an NBA team, especially with a good defensive backcourt tandem across from you. For example, Tyus Jones is excellent on the ball and extremely annoying on the transition, but he is much shorter than Nikola, who exploited that. He wisely went inside and pushed against his shorter rival, and he also hit a three-pointer over a defender, as they say – in the face. It was at the buzzer at the end of the first quarter, after which he already had seven points, without a miss.
At halftime, he had ten points and hadn’t missed a shot, only missing for the first time in the middle of the third quarter. At that time, he had 14 points and was doing a great job keeping Oklahoma in the game, where he also played great defense, even stealing “live” balls. Oklahoma held on at minus five until the final quarter, but then an incredible 14:0 run by the Nuggets followed in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter, and the Nuggets went up by a massive +19. Topić tried to push the team out of the slump, but he also started to miss and lose balls, which was slowly a sign that Oklahoma could say goodbye to this game already with six minutes left when they fell into an even deeper deficit. It’s a pity that Topić hit his first six shots and then missed the next six.
In the end, Denver fans can thank the reserves for providing a show on the home court. Valančiūnas had a dunk that even delighted Jokić.
The best for Denver were Jonas Valančiūnas with 23 points and 17 rebounds, Strawther with 22, Roddy with 21, Hardaway and Pickett with 13 each, and Bruce Brown with ten points, eight rebounds, and six assists.
Standing out for the Thunder were Branden Carlson with 23 points, 12 rebounds, and five assists, Jared McCain with 15, Kenrich Williams with 15 points and 12 rebounds, Brooks Barnhizer with 14 points and nine rebounds, and Wiggins with 13.
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Source: Mozzart sport, Photo: YT/nba screen