While he did not find his way onto the All-Star roster, Nikola Jokic has found his stride in the midst of a red-hot February run.
Since he entered the Denver Nuggets‘ starting lineup on Dec. 15 2016, Nikola Jokic has been the literal and figurative centerpiece for his team. The Nuggets made a charge at the playoffs after Jokic earned his starting spot.
While they fell just short of the playoffs last year, the team is on track to make the postseason this year. Denver is currently tied for sixth in the Western Conference. Furthermore, two of the teams behind the Nuggets in the standings (the New Orleans Pelicans and the Los Angeles Clippers) are likely to finish the season worse than they started it.
Even though they are in good shape for the playoffs, the Nuggets’ chances rest on Jokic’s shoulders. He has certainly lived up to those expectations so far in February. If he can keep his hot streak going until Paul Millsap returns, Denver is all but a lock to return to the postseason.
On fire in February
After Nikola Jokic found his way into the starting lineup last season, he was arguably the best offensive center in basketball. With apologies to DeMarcus Cousins, the Nuggets had the best offense in the league after Dec. 15 — better than that of the Golden State Warriors. Jokic averaged 17.9 points, 10.3 rebounds, and 5.3 assists per game as a starter with a blistering 63.9 percent true shooting percentage.
This season, however, Jokic was not quite the dominant force that he was last year. He often looked tentative on the offensive end. Jokic would pass up good shots to get his teammates looks, even when he would’ve been better off taking the shot himself.
Nikola Jokic missed seven games to start the month of December. Fortuitously enough, his first game back was Dec. 15, 2017. After averaging just under seven assists in January, he has been on fire since the start of February.
Nikola has averaged 21.6 points, 11.7 rebounds and 9.6 assists per game during his February games so far. Jokic capped off his incredible run in early February with the fastest triple-double in NBA history:
Nikola Jokic will be hard-pressed to keep his early February hot streak going after the All-Star break. Then again, he submitted probably the best game of his career right before the break. Hopefully, he can keep that momentum going for the stretch run.
Future outlook
The Denver Nuggets should be ecstatic about their current position in the standings. When Paul Millsap went down with his wrist injury in mid-November, the goal for the team should have been to stay afloat and in the playoff hunt until he returned.
Instead, the Nuggets behind Nikola Jokic are firmly in the playoffs at the All-Star break, sitting in sixth in the conference standings. Furthermore, their best player is in the midst of a scorching hot couple of weeks of basketball.
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If Jokic can maintain something close to this pace until Paul Millsap’s estimated return in mid-March, the Nuggets will have just enough time to reintegrate their second-best player before the postseason begins.