The Denver Nuggets ended Christmas Day in a very merry way on Sunday as they beat the Phoenix Suns, 128-125, in a flashy overtime victory.
Phoenix did all they could without the assistance of Devin Booker, who left the game with an injury, but it simply wasn’t enough.
Even with Landry Shamet blowing up with 31 points, Deandre Ayton scoring 22, and Chris Paul putting up 17 of his own, the Nuggets pulled out a very important win.
Nikola Jokic over his last 8 games:
– 31.9 PPG
– 13.8 RPG
– 11.0 APG
– 2.0 SPG
– 59/38/76 splits
– +69 plus-minus (nice)The Nuggets have won 7 of those 8 and are now 1st place in the West ⛏️ pic.twitter.com/b10lcVLIQF
— The Lead (@TheLeadSM) December 26, 2022
As expected, Nikola Jokic was the most important player for his crew.
He scored 41 points, 15 rebounds, and 15 assists.
This capped off what has been an incredible few weeks for the two-time, back-to-back MVP.
Over the last 8 games, Jokic has averaged 31.9 points, 13.8 rebounds, 11 assists, and 2 steals per game.
His stat line has been a wild 59/38/76% and his plus-minus has been +69.
The Nuggets have surged forward thanks to Jokic and his ridiculously impressive performances: they have won 7 of 8 games and are now the best team in the West.
Jokic has been stunning for years but now the Nuggets are also performing wonderfully.
Not Joking About The Joker
If any other player in the NBA was putting up these numbers, he’d be the frontrunner for the MVP trophy.
But since Jokic has won for the last two years, most people assume that won’t happen – threepeats are exceedingly rare in the history of the NBA.
No matter what happens with the MVP award, Jokic is undeniably one of the best players alive right now.
Fans of the Nuggets are elated to see the rest of the team finally giving him the support he needs.
Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, Bruce Brown, Bones Hyland, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope are just some of the stars who are in sync with Jokic and playing Robin to his Batman regularly.
The team is finally functioning in ways that fans have been wanting for years and Jokic is at the center of it all.
