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At this point in Nikola Jokic’s career, it’s hard for him to generate much excitement with one singular play, so when the internet started buzzing over the no-look pass he threw in the third quarter of the Denver Nuggets‘ 127-117 win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday, you knew it had to be special.
And was it ever.
Shortly after halftime, Jokić was operating at the top of the key against Kyle Kuzma and started to drive to the basket. As Jokić hit the elbow, all five Bucks defenders were staring at him, which allowed Aaron Gordon to sneak free along the baseline. Jokić spotted him and flipped a no-look pass right past a clueless Brook Lopez’s head that led to an easy dunk.
As impressive as the pass looked from the main camera, the baseline view is even better.
Jokić had missed the Nuggets’ last five games with an ankle injury — his longest stretch on the sidelines since 2017 — but did not miss a beat in his return. He shot 16 of 25 from the field en route to a monster triple-double: 39 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. All told, he either scored or assisted on 61 of the Nuggets’ 127 points en route to his 30th triple-double of the season.
Only three other players in NBA history have had 30 triple-doubles in a season. Russell Westbrook, Jokić’s Denver teammate, has done it three times. The others are Oscar Robertson and Wilt Chamberlain.
The Nuggets had gone 2-3 with Jokić out and were certainly glad to have him back. Perhaps no player in the league is more responsible for his team’s success than the three-time MVP. Denver has a plus-10 net rating with Jokić on the court this season and a minus-8.6 net rating when he is not out there.
“I’m feeling good, you know, I didn’t play for a long time,” Jokić said. “But I’m feeling good now and I’m just happy we won the game.”
Thanks to Wednesday’s win, the Nuggets improved to 46-28, and stayed on track for their third consecutive 50-win season — something they have only done three times in franchise history.
The Nuggets are all alone in third place in the Western Conference for the time being, but that could change quickly. With a few weeks to play they are 1.5 games behind the Houston Rockets for second, and one game up on both the Los Angeles Lakers and Memphis Grizzlies, who occupy fourth and fifth, respectively.
Now that Jokić is back in action, the Nuggets will feel much better about their chances of securing a top-four seed and earning homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
