NBA Playoffs: 10 best players this postseason after Round 1

NBA Playoffs: 10 best players – 2. Nikola Jokic

The league’s presumptive league MVP from this past season entered the playoffs in a shaky position. His wingman on offense, Jamal Murray, capable of erupting for 50 points on any given night, is out for the season with an ACL injury. Three other guards began the postseason injured as well. Against Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers, that seemed a problem.

Instead Nikola Jokic led, carried, guided and fed his troop of plucky role players, and smooth scoring forward Michael Porter Jr., to a first-round victory. Not Jokic doesn’t have to go through the awkwardness of accepting an MVP trophy once his team was already eliminated. He also can continue to compete for the title, because the way he is playing, that is very much in play.

Jokic last season averaged a 24.4 points per game in a strong 19 game postseason. In the first round this year he cleared that bar like an Olympic hurdler clears a fallen tree limb. Jokic averaged 33 points per game as the Trail Blazers tried to take away the pass and dare him to score. He did, shooting 52.8 from the field overall and 42.9 from 3-point range. He chipped in 10.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game as well.

No matter the opponent or the players around him, Jokic can score and set up others to score like no other big man in the history of the game, combing Dirk’s shooting with Sabonis’ passing and Shaq’s love of mashing in the post. No one has been able to slow him down yet this season.