Opinion
Nikola Jokic didn’t win the MVP for the third straight time this season but there is not a shadow of a doubt that he is the best basketballer on the planet.
Not necessarily the most talented, definitely not the most athletic but easily the most dominant.
To non-basketball fans they do a double take when you point out to them that this pudgy seven-footer who lumbers up and down the court is the cream of the crop.
Joel Embiid, who stole Jokic’s MVP crown, and Giannis Antetokounmpo are his main rivals and they look like they’ve been chiselled out of the LeBron James mould of athletic specimens who are unstoppable forces on the floor.
Even with Steph Curry, when he took home back-to-back MVPs a few years back, including the first and only unanimous vote, it was easier to showcase why he was so great with just a few examples of his unprecedented three-point accuracy and range that looked so effortless.
(Photo by Justin Tafoya/Getty Images)
But Jokic? Well, it’s not that straightforward.
His skill is his ability to get the best out of his team but also be able to go it alone when other avenues are shut off.
He’s more of a point guard like Jason Kidd or a Steve Nash in the previous generation who not only made their teammates look better but gave their salaries an exponential uptick by turning journeymen into regular starters and All-Stars.
Jokic knows what it’s like to be undervalued. He was taken in the second round with the 41st pick in the 2014 NBA Draft. By that stage of the telecast, the announcements weren’t even being broadcast live and Denver selected the little-known Serbian during a commercial break while Taco Bell ad was airing on ESPN.
Deputy commissioner Mark Tatum then back-announced his selection after the break which garnered a reaction that can only be described as widespread indifference from the remaining fans at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
The Nuggets deserve all the credit in the world for striking gold so low in the draft but even they did not see his potential – they took Doug McDermott in the first round at No.11
Embiid was the blue-chip prospect that year who fell to No.3 because of a stress fracture in his foot which needed surgery, meaning Andrew Wiggins went first. Those two, along with Julius Randle (No.7) and Zach LaVine (No.13) were the only future All-Stars chosen among the 40 names read out before Jokic.
Even now, Jokic is still not given his dues in the All-Star draft. He was the last starter chosen by LeBron this season, getting up from his chair on stage ahead of Lauri Markkanen before the King even called his name to ensure he wasn’t the final selection.
However, it is Jokic’s lack of interest in accolades that is one of his greatest attributes.
He doesn’t pump himself up on social media and when asked about the importance of winning a third straight MVP this year to join Larry Bird, Wilt Chamberlin and Bill Russell as the only players to have achieved the feat, he was nonchalant.
“I don’t think about it. I never try to be MVP,” he said in April as the race between Jokic, Embiid and Antetokounmpo reached fever pitch.
He actually tailed off in the last few weeks of the season after Denver wrapped up the top seed in the West rather than padding his stats and going hell for leather to ensure MVP honours. He was taking the long view.
And the main reason for his minimal care factor was the fact that in the previous two seasons when he’d won the game’s top individual honour, his team had fallen short in the playoffs.
Granted, the Nuggets were not at full strength either time due to serious injuries to Jamal Murray and Michael Porter jnr but that no longer factors into the equation.
Murray and Porter have gradually built back to their best through the regular season and have been excellent in the playoffs, not just riding on Jokic’s coattails but stepping up in big moments.
In the Western Conference finals sweep over the Lakers, it was often Murray who carried the offensive load for the Nuggets while Jokic happily took a back seat role.
Denver now has the chance to become just the second former ABA team to win the NBA championship since the merger in the mid 1970s.
They’ve never even been to the finals in nearly half a century of trying but after topping the Western Conference and sweeping the Lakers, they will have more than a week’s worth of timely rest before tipping off against Miami in Denver on Friday morning (10.30am AEST).
The Heat, meanwhile, as the eighth seed in the East have had to scrap their way through, emerging from a seven-game series against Boston which they nearly blew after winning the first three matches.
Nikola Jokic defies LeBron James. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
Judging by recent match-ups, this should be a bloodbath. Denver have won their past six clashes with the Heat.
And even though Bam Adebayo is one of the strongest, most physical and best defensive centres in the NBA, he has no answer for Jokic’s multi-faceted style.
Jokic tallied 19 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists when the Nuggets won 124-119 at home just after Christmas and he backed that up with 27, 12 and eight in the 112-108 return date in Miami in February.
Last season, Heat kingpin Jimmy Butler hit a game-high 31 but Jokic (25 points, 15 rebounds, 10 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks) was unstoppable in a 17-point Denver blowout and then did it again with 24, 15 and seven in a 120-111 triumph in Florida.
Going back to the previous season, The Joker only had three assists (shock, horror) in Miami but added 21 points and 11 rebounds in a 27-point thumping before racking up another triple double (17 points, 10 rebounds, 11 assists) in a 123-106 cruise in Colorado.
There seems to be a pattern emerging here.
To be fair to Miami, he’s had similar dominance over several teams in recent years.
And when it comes to the Heat also, they don’t care about past records, bookmakers’ odds or reputations.
They have an unshakeable belief in their famed “Heat culture” and with Butler known for being the most intense competitor in the NBA, this series could be a fiery affair.
There’s bad blood stemming from an incident in 2021 when Jokic shoved Miami forward Markieff Morris which resulted in a season-ending back injury.
The Heat want to drag Denver into another rough and tumble match-up, just like they did with the Celtics, but Jokic is too smart to fall for such tactics and will be laser focused on repyaing the only franchise that believed in him with their first championship trophy.
They used a zone defence to great effect to get past the Celtics but Jokic will pick that apart.
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