“… the gift that keeps on giving.”
– 1920’s Victor-Radio (later RCA) advertisement
Back in the ’20’s (no, I wasn’t alive then, thank you very much), radio was the latest entertainment hit in the United States, with less than 1% of the population owning one in 1922, and a majority of folks having one by the end of that decade. Television was still 20+ years shy of becoming a thing, and most folks got their live news and entertainment from a big box with a small speaker featured prominently in their living room. The first radio station went online in Pittsburgh in 1920, and by decades end, a couple small national channels called NBC and CBS were competing for the hearts and dollars of America through popular storytelling, news updates for the masses, and this little thing called sports broadcasting that brought spectacles like Babe Ruth and the World Series to the ears of the nation.
And man, if Nikola Jokic’s 56-point triple double from THIS Christmas Day had only been on the radio, I’d have been laying on the floor with a bowl of popcorn following every damned move.
Not that I won’t take the pictures to go with the sound, as the Denver Nuggets City Edition rainbow skyline jerseys were not nearly so colorful as the game Joker laid out for the masses on national TV. What a spectacle by one of the greats to ever play the game. With yet another starter off the floor in Cam Johnson, Denver played a fairly fantastic first three quarters, only to almost give it all away to the Timberwolves in the fourth, coughing up a 15-point lead.
How incredible was Jokic’s night? How about a 56-point, 16-rebound, 15-assist effort that leaves him a scant two triple-doubles shy of the remarkable Oscar Robertson on the all-time triple-double list, having achieved the triple-double part of the program yet again in the third quarter? How about an 18-point overtime that sets a new NBA record for points in OT, eclipsing some guy name Steph Curry? How about being the lead story on most national outlets on a Christmas Day that featured multiple remarkable games from both the NBA and NFL, including Spurs-Thunder, Rockets-Lakers, and Broncos-Chiefs, amongst many others?
Nikola lifted the Nuggets onto his shoulders and brought them home in a game they could ill afford to lose in the hyper-competitive Western Conference. His career triple-double pace now stands just shy of 23% of his games, with others who are high on the career list all featuring in the high teens, and the rest of the list dropping off from there. It is possible at his current pace that he will set a new career high for a season, and even remotely possible he will catch former teammate Russell Westbrook for number one on the list by year’s end as well. What now seems impossible is Jokic not passing Russ by next season at the least. Another remarkable performance from a man who seems to throw out feat after feat the league has never seen with the frequency of a Ball Aluminum commercial on Altitude TV, and seems to be as concerned or impressed with all his achievements as a fifth-grade teacher who has a pile of math tests to grade.
Well, the grade you’d have to give Jokic after yet another ho-hum masterclass on Christmas is the same A++++++ that Ralphie gets in his fever dream from A Christmas Story. As you see the impact he’s had on Denver basketball, on the way other teams in the Association are teaching their bigs to rotate an offense around them, in the mini-Sombor Shuffles you now see collegiate and even high school games, you can feel the way that the shy Serbian has changed the game for good. While we Nuggets fans will enjoy the most feel-good feels from his hopefully still-lengthy career ahead of him, his basketball IQ and approach to play has left his fingerprints on the larger game for good. The second round draft pick who hates phrases that call attention to him like “Jokmas” just gave us another game for the ages on Christmas. He’s simply the gift that keeps on giving.
