"What even is he?!" Nikola Jokic is still finding new ways to shock the world

Fifteen nuggets for 15 Nikola Jokic assists in a 106-103 win over the Toronto Raptors in Canada on Monday.

1. This wasn’t a basketball play; this was something out of jai alai.

Nikola Jokic has thrown some ridiculous passes in four seasons as a Nugget. This sidewinder he whipped from 20 feet away into Jamal Murray’s bread basket is right up there with any of them. Be careful watching it too many times. It might melt your brain.

2. Jokic was in one of those zones where he plays like he’s fueled by an endless supply of Mario Kart invincibility stars. He had nine assists in the first quarter alone. At halftime, he was up to 14 points, 10 assists and five rebounds. It was reminiscent of his first half against the Bucks in February, when he recorded the fastest triple-double in NBA history. He tallied his second triple-double of the season in Toronto, a 23-point, 11-rebound, 15-assist masterpiece that helped the Nuggets overcome Will Barton’s absence and Gary Harris’ early exit against a team that won 20 of its first 24 games. His clutch free throws late in the game were the finishing touches to a brilliant performance.

3. Harris only logged nine minutes before leaving with what the team described as a right hip injury. He landed awkwardly following a drive to the rim.

That the Nuggets were able to hold off the NBA’s best team through the first quarter of the season speaks to their depth and resolve.

“This is a winning team,” Jokic said. “We missed Will Barton. We missed Gary from halftime. We missed IT. We missed Michael Porter Jr. But this is a hell of a team. Everybody stepped up.”

4. Juancho Hernangomez and Malik Beasley were two of the players Jokic praised specifically. The pair of 2016 first-round picks have become valuable rotation pieces in year three. They each scored 15 points and were on the floor alongside Jokic, Paul Millsap and Jamal Murray to close the game. Hernangomez, who canned 3 of 7 looks from long range, is blistering the nets by shooting 45.7 percent on 3.7 attempts 3-point attempts per game. Beasley is dunking every transition runout in sight and knocking down outside shots at an impressive rate himself (40.3 percent from 3).

Hernangomez and Beasley pulled their weight on defense, too. Watch both of them scramble on this crucial late-game stand.

The Nuggets have weathered injuries to Barton and Harris thanks to their two 2016 first-round selections who were picked after Murray. Both of them look like winning players.

5. The defense is for real. Previous iterations of the Nuggets couldn’t have scrambled on the possession you see above without a breakdown occurring. The Raptors passed the ball seven times, and the best look they were able to get was a step-back 3. Denver did an excellent job of defending the 3-point line all game as it held Toronto to 11 of 41 shooting from deep.

6. Good defense has been a constant, and now the Nuggets are finding their rhythm offensively. They recorded 19 assists in the first half and 32 for the game. They’re averaging 30 assists in their last nine games — the most in the NBA during that timespan. The basketball is hopping from player to player to player instead of sticking.

7. Jokic was responsible for 15 of those assists — just two off his career high — while Murray handed out eight of them. Murray has found some success by throwing wraparound passes in the pick-and-roll, and lately he’s doing a better job of finding Jokic in that action. They hooked up for a huge basket late.

But the 21-year-old still has a ways to go as a playmaker. Murray committed seven turnovers. Several of them were due to overpassing instead of taking easy shots inside. The Raptors’ ball pressure late in the game caused him problems, too.

8. How about Pascal Siakam? The third-year forward out of New Mexico State has been a revelation for the Raptors this year. He looks like he’s propelled by an invisible slingshot when he attacks the rim. And that spin move? Siakam made Millsap look silly twice by Tazmanian Deviling his way to the rim.

Siakam scored 14 points on 7-of-10 shooting, grabbed six rebounds and dished out seven assists. He’s a special talent you’ll only hear more about going forward.

9. Michael Malone hasn’t gone to his supersized Jokic-Mason Plumlee frontcourt look often this season, but the two-center lineup made an appearance Monday. The Nuggets outscored the Raptors by 10 points in the six minutes Jokic and Plumlee shared the floor. They connected on a pretty alley-oop in the third quarter.

I can’t help but think Plumlee could have had an incredible volleyball career if he’d gone that route.

10. So. Many. Incredible. Jokic. Passes. What is this? Who does this?

Jokic was leaning backwards. He wasn’t even looking at Torrey Craig. How did he deliver this on target? Jokic is averaging 7.5 assists per game — the eighth-highest mark in the NBA and the most among centers by an enormous margin. Wilt Chamberlain set the single-season record for assists per game by a center in 1967-68 with 8.6. That that even seems obtainable is a testament to Jokic’s ridiculousness.

11. Oh, and for those who followed this last year: Jokic is up to two triple-doubles and three dunks on the season. He was the rare player to record more triple-doubles than dunks in 2017-18. That’s the most Jokic thing ever. Or actually, maybe it was this 3 he chucked up after getting fouled that went in but didn’t count.

12. “What even is he?!” SportsCenter host Scott Van Pelt asked. I’ve watched every Jokic game since the start of the 2016-17 season, and I’m still trying to figure it out myself.

13. Kudos to Craig for knocking down a pair of 3s. He was 5 for 31 from deep coming into Monday’s game. He scored eight points and grabbed four rebounds in 17 minutes.

14. Denver Nuggets, road warriors? They’re 7-4 away from Pepsi Center with wins over the Clippers, Thunder, Trail Blazers and Raptors. They’ve made major progress after going 15-26 on the road last year.

15. The Nuggets have a chance to be good for a long time. Sometimes it’s easy to forget they’re the NBA’s fourth-youngest team. Harris is 24. Jokic, Hernangomez and Morris are 23. Beasley is 22. Murray is 21. All of them have made major contributions en route to a 16-7 start.