Nikola Jokic is the one basketball participant on earth who can put up 27 factors, 20 rebounds, 11 assists and three steals and never even appear to be he performed terribly effectively. Certainly, it was simply one other night time on the workplace for the three-time MVP, albeit in a 126-114 Nuggets loss to the Cavaliers on Thursday.
That efficiency marked the 139th triple-double of Jokic’s profession, which strikes him previous Magic Johnson and into sole possession of third place on the all-time listing. Solely Jokic’s present teammate, Russell Westbrook, and Oscar Robertson have extra profession triple-doubles with 200 and 181, respectively.
So what will we make of this made-for-Twitter triple-double enterprise? For starters, it is the best tweet and corresponding headline in historical past as a result of we’re a species that’s surprisingly fascinated with spherical numbers. Jokic, or every other participant for that matter, may put up 20-10-9 in a recreation and no person would care. Add that tenth rebound in, nevertheless, and all of the sudden it is a way more noteworthy accomplishment. It is the .299 vs. .300 hitter in baseball factor. The previous is a no person. The latter is a Corridor of Famer. Silly.
What’s additionally silly are assists. They’re, with out query, essentially the most deceptive stat in basketball. Particularly within the NBA, the place assists are handed out like Halloween sweet. I’d wager good cash that a minimum of 20% of them are bogus, and even that feels conservative. A dude passes to a different dude who does all of the work of making a shot for himself and an help is credited. It occurs on a regular basis. So no matter help quantity you see, subtract 20-30%, and that is seemingly the extra correct quantity.
Staggering on-off splits higher show Jokic’s dominance
It is the spirit of the triple-double that issues. It says it is a multi-dimensional participant who’s controlling each a part of a recreation, and no person does that higher than Jokic. He’s the solar round which Denver rotates and is within the midst of the very best season of his profession.
Clearly, that is saying quite a bit a couple of man who has gained three MVPs.
Neglect the triple-double on Thursday; the man is averaging a triple-double at 29.9 factors, 13.4 rebounds and 10.4 assists per recreation. These scoring and assists averages are the very best of his profession. Jokic is doing this whereas making a career-high 50% of his 3-pointers. He is the runaway MVP by means of the primary quarter of the season if for no different purpose than the cliff the Nuggets fall off when he leaves the courtroom.
Greater than the spherical box-score numbers, these are the marks by which we have to be floored. Critically, for one man to be the distinction between the very best and worst offense within the NBA is fairly wild. We’ve seen excessive on-off splits earlier than, and over sufficient of a pattern, it solely occurs with the very best of the very best.
The Warriors have lengthy gone from an elite offense to a pathetic one with out Stephen Curry. It is arguably much more stark with Jokic and the Nuggets, who entered Thursday outscoring opponents by 14 factors per 100 possessions with Jokic on the ground whereas being outscored by 17.8 per 100 when he is off, per Cleansing the Glass.
Do the mathematics, and the Nuggets are 31.8 factors higher with Jokic on the ground, or put one other means, 31.8 factors worse with him off.
That could be a staggering quantity that speaks to his unparalleled dominance. And yeah, alongside the best way he has additionally piled up a bunch of triple-doubles.
