Win or lose, historic triple-double or single-digit scoring night, Nikola Jokic’s biggest fans always line the hallway just outside of the Nuggets’ family room after the game’s final buzzer waiting patiently for their larger than life superhero.
They’re technically season ticket holders, even though they don’t watch much of the game. On nights like tonight, they’ll do arts and crafts, while on the other side of a concrete wall Jokic is registering a 32-point, 18-rebound, 10-assist stat line in the Nuggets’ 126-110 win over the 76ers. As Jokic rounds the corner they giggle with excitement about what’s going to come next. Maybe tonight they’ll be one of the lucky ones that Jokic will lift up and carry down the hallway.
The Jokic diehards — who stand at attention waiting for Denver’s likely All-Star after every home game — are children of Nuggets staffers, but they might as well be the Serbian’s personal fan club. And before Jokic’s teammates could congratulate him in the locker room on another MVP-like performance, where he led Denver to its 33rd win of the season, a 126-110 win, the 7-footer had to pay respect to his groupies, who have become viral sensations of their own this season.
“I love them. I love them,” Jokic said. “And they love me. I don’t know why.”
Jokic’s most loyal supporters may not have watched him paint another masterpiece Saturday against Philadelphia, but the sellout crowd that flocked to Pepsi Center couldn’t take their eyes off their star big man. Jokic dazzled against the 76ers from the opening tip, tallying 17 points in the first quarter on just 12 shots 24 hours after watching Friday’s win over the Suns from his apartment with ex-teammate and now Philadelphia 76er Wilson Chandler, who dropped by to keep his former big man some company.
“I kind of didn’t miss most of them,” Jokic said of his mindset in the first quarter. “So I just continued to shoot.”
Teammates insist that they’re no longer surprised by Jokic’s gaudy stat lines. But this one should capture their attention. Against the 76ers, Jokic recorded his seventh triple-double of the season and became the first player in NBA history with 32 points, 18 rebounds and 10 assists in 34 minutes or less. He’s the third player since 2010 (Giannis Antetokounmpo, DeMarcus Cousins, David Lee) to finish with at least 30 points, 18 rebounds and 10 assists, and Jokic fell just two rebounds shy of posting the first 30-point, 20-rebound, 10-assist game since Kareem Abdul-Jabaar accomplished the feat in 1976.
“The things Joker does, it’s like at the end of a quarter, you look up and he’s got like 15 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and it’s the end of the first quarter,” said Torrey Craig, who finished with 15 points and six rebounds in a team-high 35 minutes. “So by the end of the game, I’m not surprised that he stuffs the stat sheet the way he does.”
Denver easily disposed of Philadelphia, but it was a little more difficult than Nuggets coach Michael Malone imagined it would be. Even without Chandler, Joel Embiid and Jimmy Butler, who were all sidelined with injuries, the 76ers still rung up 37 first quarter points. In the first half, Philadelphia shot 51 percent from the field and 50 percent from three. But the Nuggets put the clamps on the 76ers in the second half limiting Philadelphia to just 42 points on 33 percent shooting across quarters three and four.
“Overall, I thought guys took it upon themselves to defend at a much higher level than we did in the first half,” said Malone. “… It was a good step in the right direction against a good team. They were without three starters, obviously, but still a tough challenge for us.”
Denver blew the game open in the fourth quarter to win by a comfortable 16-point margin. Six Nuggets players — Jokic, Craig, Will Barton, Mason Plumlee, Malik Beasley and Monte Morris — scored in double figures. As a team, Denver shot a healthy 51 percent from the field but struggled from three, hitting just 33 percent of its triples. The game might have been won in the paint, where the Nuggets scored 74 points to the 76ers’ 40.
But the Jokic diehards don’t care about stats. They don’t care about numbers. They actually don’t care about wins and losses either, even though the Nuggets improved to an NBA-best 22-4 at home this season.
“They don’t know nothing about basketball,” Jokic said of his personal fan club, perplexed by why those kids’ faces always light up every time their superhero lumbers down the hallway.
“Maybe, it’s because you’re you’re pretty tall,” I suggested.
“Maybe, it’s that,” he said.
