Nikola Jokić couldn’t go to a triple-double Monday night in Indianapolis, however he nonetheless discovered a option to make historical past.
The Denver star raised 19 profession assists whereas main the Nuggets to a 125-116 Victory over the Indiana Pacers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. This exceeded his earlier file of 18.
Jokić is the primary middle to file 19 assists in a match since Wilt Chamberlain did in 1968. Jokić solely adopted Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the race of all time among the many facilities within the historical past of the League. These are the one two facilities which have exceeded the 5,000 assistants’ mark.
Jokić’s ultimate assistance on Monday night got here on a display screen to Michael Porter Jr., who carried out a simple dunk in the course of the monitor.
Denver has directed nearly your complete path due to the quasi-triple of Jokić. The triple MVP collected 18 factors and 9 rebounds to go together with its 19 assists. He pulled 9 out of 14 on the bottom. He has a median of a profession summit of 29.4 factors, 12.7 rebounds and 10.2 assists this season, his tenth within the League. Solely Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Giannis Antetokounmpo rating extra factors per recreation than him, and solely Trae Younger units up extra help.
Aaron Gordon led Denver with 25 factors, and Porter added 19 factors and 11 rebounds. The 5 starters of Denver struck the double figures and the workforce turned higher than 56% of the land.
Myles Turner led Indiana with 23 factors in defeat, which left them at 32-24 this season. Tyrese Haliburton completed with 19 factors and 15 assists, and Pascal Siakam completed with 19 factors and 9 rebounds.
Jokić and the Nuggets, who now have a 38-20 file, will face the Milwaukee Bucks Thursday night in Wisconsin. Whereas they’re second within the Western Convention classification, the Nuggets are practically 10 video games from Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder. Though it’s going to take a superb finish to observe the rhythm of Gilgeous-Aalexander within the MVP race, Jokić once more places profession numbers this season. Whether or not he can remodel this right into a fourth Michael Jordan trophy or one other title for Nuggets stays to be seen.
