The Denver Nuggets beat the good Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday, with Nikola Jokic picking up a triple-double in an absurd 14 minutes, 33 seconds (the fastest ever) and finishing with a rare 30-15-15 game. (He actually had 30-15-17.) The highlights are incredible.
The Nuggets aren’t yoking around
We have that and more in Friday’s NBA newsletter.
Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports
This isn’t new: Jokic is one of the best passing big men since Vlade Divac and Chris Webber. Over his last 10 games, he’s averaging nine assists (with 20 points and 11 rebounds). Denver has been fighting hard, even without key cog Paul Millsap. The Nuggets have won six of seven and over the past four weeks are 9-3. That has them tied for the No. 6 spot in the vicious West and just a half-game out of No. 5.
Denver has one more month until Millsap is back. Before he went down in mid-November, the Nuggets had improved their defense and seen their offense — one of the league’s best a year ago — slip. The defense has tanked without Millsap (it is bottom 10, currently) but the offense came back strong. It’ll be interesting to see what happens on both ends when Millsap returns.
Denver’s current mix is working, but Millsap should be its second-best player behind Jokic. If his presence hurts the flowing offense more than it helps the porous defense, that’s a problem.
But let’s not borrow trouble. The Nuggets are one of the hotter teams in the league going into All-Star, along with the Rockets, Raptors, and Jazz. What an interesting home stretch in the West we’ll have!
Scores Galore ...
DEN 134, MIL 123
LAL 111, DEN 119
... And So Much More
Not all is good with the Nuggets, though. Rocky, their mountain lion mascot, tried to cheat on his wife on Valentine’s Day.
LeBron and Kevin Durant riding around Akron with Cari Champion, talking about being introduced to basketball, the All-Star Game, and, uh, the president. That strain of conversation begins with this legendary exchange:
CHAMPION: “The Warriors said if we had an invite, we’re not going to the White House. LeBron, you called the president a bum.”
LEBRON: “Yeah, straight up.”
DURANT: [laughs] “Straight up.”
The Blazers hired a former referee in an attempt to learn how to get more calls. Is it working?
Is it bad that one of the five best players in the NBA doesn’t understand how officials are calling traveling?
It sounds like the FBI investigation into college basketball is going to get worse before it gets better.
Zach Harper with the worst contracts from the 2016 spending spree. That the Timofey Mozgov deal isn’t in the top five tells you everything you need to know about this list.
All-Star Weekend officially tips off with the Celebrity Game on ESPN at 7 p.m. ET Friday. The slightly more watchable Rising Stars Challenge is at 9 p.m. on TNT. The better stuff starts Saturday. Here’s the full schedule.
Be excellent to each other.
How the triple-double got its name
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