"You can't buy heart": On an unforgettable night, Nikola Jokic adds to his legacy

As the buzzer at Ball Arena sounded on a 116-102 Phoenix Suns Game 3 win, Nikola Jokic sat stoically in his second-row seat on the Nuggets’ sideline. Players, coaches, and team staffers walked towards Denver’s locker room, but Jokic didn’t move.

It was the sight of a man, a brother, a husband, a teammate, and a warrior who simply had no more left to give. Jokic left it all on the floor Friday. He battled through a second-quarter sprained ankle and tried to once again carry an undermanned group past Chris Paul, Devin Booker, and a talented and disciplined Suns team. The result was a 32-point, 20-rebound, 10 assist stat line that’s only been achieved in the playoffs by Kareem and Wilt but another Nuggets double-digit loss.

Jokic eventually rose from his chair and clapped towards the Nuggets faithful as he walked off the floor, thanking them for doing their part and packing the building.

Then in the Nuggets locker room, Jokic apologized. He blamed the loss on himself. He told his teammates it was his fault.

“I said it to the guys, it was my bad,” Jokic relayed postgame. “I really needed to be better.”

The harsh truth of Game 3 is that Jokic could have been better. It was one of the more distinguished performances of his career but it was far from a perfect night. Jokic shot only 13-29 — the ninth time in 42 career playoff outings where he’s shot less than 45% from the floor — 5-9 from the free-throw line and just 1-6 from three. He missed a handful of shots around the rim that he usually makes 90% of the time. Deandre Ayton’s defense has been very good this series, but it was one of those very rare, random nights where Jokic just didn’t have that magical touch in the paint that we’ve been spoiled by for the last six years.

A Game 3 win would have been the capper on an unforgettable evening. Flanked by his two older brothers and a wall of Nuggets teammates behind him, Jokic received his MVP trophy pregame. It was a short but fitting ceremony where Jokic recited a similar two-line speech to the one he gave his teammates on Tuesday in Phoenix when Adam Silver informed him he was the first MVP winner in franchise history.

“I just want to thank you guys for all the support, not just this year, for all six years I’ve been here,” Jokic said. “But this trophy’s not mine. It’s all of these guys’ over here. So I want you to cheer for them.”

I’ll never forget Friday’s events. From the best player in the NBA this season telling a capacity crowd to cheer for his teammates and not him on one of the biggest nights of his life, to Jokic again unfairly shouldering the blame in a loss, just as he’s done time and time again throughout his time in Denver.

It was special. It was classic. It was vintage Jokic.

That’s what real leadership looks like in today’s NBA. That’s what a true superstar and a true face of a franchise looks like. We’re so lucky and so blessed. There will never be another Nikola Jokic, the player or the person. How he’s carried the Nuggets this far will just go down as another part of his legacy.

It’s incredibly noble how Jokic has carried himself up until this point in the season because he has every excuse in the world to be exhausted. Jokic helped lead the Nuggets to the Western Conference Finals last playoffs and then didn’t rest during the two-month offseason. He arrived back in Denver and attacked the regular season from Game No. 1. Jokic played in all 72 games and carried the Nuggets past the Trail Blazers without Jamal Murray, Will Barton and PJ Dozier.

And he is exhausted, both mentally and physically. But Jokic will never say it. He doesn’t want his teammates to see their leader lean into an excuse like that.

“You can’t buy heart. You can’t teach toughness and things like that,” Monte Morris said. “You’ve just got to have it in you. And he’s definitely got that.”

After three games and three losses, it’s clear that the Nuggets just don’t have enough to beat the Suns. It sounds elementary, but Phoenix is just too good, too talented, and too well-coached. This series would be a lot different if Murray was healthy and Denver had someone to take some of the offensive burden off Jokic. Michael Porter Jr. unfortunately just isn’t ready.

But this series even if it ends in a sweep will not damage the reputation of Nikola Jokic, even though they’ll try to tell you it will. He’s already the greatest Nugget in franchise history. If he continues on this track, Jokic will go down as one of the greatest to ever play this game. He’s taken Denver to the second round of the playoffs in consecutive seasons for the first time 1985-86. He’s been an exemplary player, teammate, and role model. He’s given everything he’s had to this franchise.

There’s one reason why the Nuggets were the only conference finalist from last season’s playoffs to reach Round 2: Nikola Jokic.

“I tried my best. I didn’t want to lose, you know?” Jokic said. “I was trying to leave everything that I had on the floor.”

You’re damn right you did. Thank you, Nikola.