| Advertisement |
MIAMI, June 12 (UPI) -- Bright-white, size 15 shoes steer his 6-foot-11 frame in a slow blur down the court, as the best athletes in the world sprint in transition in a basketball orchestra. The sluggish Serbian, often overlooked in debates about the most elite players, is usually the last man to arrive when the Denver Nuggets attack foes in transition, but fellow players and coaches say Nikola Jokic is a basketball savant worthy of all-time-great consideration.
Advertisement
They say he's using his warp-speed analysis, masked athleticism, willingness to defer to teammates and work-life balance to dominate the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals. The Nuggets will host the Heat in Game 5 at 8:30 p.m. EDT Monday in Denver.
And if they win, the NBA title is all theirs.
"I think all the players in that locker room look at him, especially when we hit adversity, and he is always calm," coach Mike Malone said.
"For him, like he'll tell you, it is basketball. It's not life-and-death. Keeping it in perspective. But with that being said, at this stage, we understand that we have a chance to do something special, and he leads that charge.
"I think just his calmness when things are roughest really kind of settles down the guys around him, because they look to him for his words, but also his body language and his positivity. That does a lot for our group."
Jokic, 28, is averaging a series-best 30.8 points, 13.5 rebounds and eight assists per game in the NBA Finals. His malleable ability to impact games led the Nuggets within a win of claiming the first title in the franchise's 56-year history.
If an observer relays the mostly unprecedented statistics to the All-NBA center, he responds with a pause. The Sombor native, who prioritizes family and has a passion for horses, usually follows with a dry joke, diverts eye contact and timidly talks about Malone and teammates.
"I think he's a truly selfless superstar, where it's not about him," Malone said at media day, before Jokic powered the Nuggets to a 3-1 series lead. "He's not looking for people and saying 'Look at me, tell me how great I am.'
"He's almost embarrassed by the attention."
Some players bask in basketball adulation, especially when asked to describe triple-doubles and 50-plus-point performances, feats Jokic accomplished this postseason. But Jokic, who doesn't have social media accounts, seems happiest when ignoring praise and dishing it onto his teammates.
"As long as we win, I'm good. Whatever," Jokic said after a 23-point, 12 rebound, four assist Game 4 win.
Those 23 points were tied for the fewest Jokic scored since the first round of the playoffs, but the Nuggets still managed a 13-point win. The puzzle of strategizing for how to stop Jokic and the Nuggets has been something nearly impossible to solve for the Heat's Erik Spoelstra, considered among the best coaches in the NBA.
"It transcends scheme," Spoelstra said.
Jokic "unstoppable"
Jokic scored 41 points in the Heat's lone win of the series, a 3-point Game 2 triumph. When he isn't dominating inside, he is sinking 3-pointers, completing precise passes and drawing defenders outside the 3-point line, in respect to shooting range uncharacteristic for a player his size.
"Jokic can manipulate your defense in so many different ways that I can't even get into," Spoelstra said. "You just have to embrace that competition and find a way to overcome it regardless of how difficult it can be."
Jokic and guard Jamaal Murray start most of the Nuggets' offensive possessions with one of the best pick-and-roll combinations in the NBA.
Either player can handle the ball to start the sequence, making defenders guess where to focus most. The duo uses hand signals, handoffs, screens and picks, shedding, and colliding with defenders to get to the hoop. The play regularly results in made baskets or trips to the free throw line.
"He's such basketball savant," Heat forward Kevin Love said of Jokic. "He's brilliant out there. You're never going to stop him; you just try to slow him down."
Heat players have flown out of a zone defense, attacking him like piranhas. He responds by reading the assaults with equal tempo, almost always making the right decision to combat the intensity.
The by-example leader is still an obvious front man, without a desire to rev up teammates with fiery speeches. Fans who watch the Nuggets are accustomed to seeing him eye opponents and determine what plays are about to happen. He frequently voices his predictions to teammates from the free throw line.
That mindfulness and an ability to pick the right moments in games to turn up the intensity of his athleticism keep the big man dominant despite his taxing 163 minutes played in the NBA Finals.
Jokic often uses his slow movement in transition to trick opponents into thinking he is tired. He catches the ball down low, appearing passive, before slamming his sneaker on the floor and completing freakishly fast half-turns, and then flicking the ball through the net before foes react.
The two-time MVP who often deflects praise is fittingly among the NBA leaders in on-court deflections, part of the league's "hustle" statistic criteria. Those totals, combined with loose balls recovered, box-outs and more, numerically categorize the "Joker" among effort specialists.
It's possible that the man analysts and players have described as a below-average athlete is the best basketball player on the planet. His eventual spot in history and footprint on the game could rival that of LeBron James, Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson.
Nuggets players are on record as saying Jokic is among the best players in history. He refuses to even acknowledge his placement as the best player on his own team.
"It's hard to say because sometimes I am, sometimes I'm not," Jokic said. "I'm cool with that. I think everybody else is good with that. I think with how we play, everybody can step up, everybody can be a best player in one game or whatever."
Despite that reluctance for reverence, the second-round pick in the 2014 NBA Draft -- famously selected during a Taco Bell commercial -- is likely to add the league's top trophy to his already gaudy resume.
"I'm just happy that every year we've grown as a team and every year we were getting better, and now we are in this situation," Jokic said.
"We stick to the guys who we draft, and of course we added some really good players that accept our culture or our style of play. I think that's why we are in this situation.
"My journey is -- I don't think it's that interesting."
But Murray and Nuggets teammates say Jokic's understated, yet phenomenal, trek from his small Serbian town to the pinnacle of the NBA is still below its climax.
"He won his first MVP and his numbers were better than the second MVP, and his numbers are better now," Murray said Sunday. "So, yeah, I think there's more to come from Jok."
