Two-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic is a mystery wrapped in an enigma — is the Denver Nuggets star a point guard or a center? Is he a Larry Bird or Magic Johnson? And… can his brand of high IQ hoops make the Nuggets into champions?
The Nuggets face a formidable test in their second round series against the Phoenix Suns, which tips off Saturday night. The Suns are what you call revamped — they were plenty vamped before, but now they have Kevin Durant, one of the deadliest scorers in NBA history, a former NBA MVP himself and a 2x NBA Finals MVP.
Game recognize game, as they say, and a tweet last year that Durant sent out while watching the Nuggets defeat the 76ers — behind some unique Jokic magic — tells that story better than all the postgame interviews combined.
Shouting out a particularly funky Jokic assist, Durant just went all caps saying “Aye jokic. That was a DIME.”
Aye jokic. That was a DIME. pic.twitter.com/KuxwwPYeAv
— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) March 15, 2022
Here’s the play:
Joker serves up a DIME to Jeff Green đ pic.twitter.com/0BdFkFpz4C
— NBA TV (@NBATV) March 15, 2022
And that’s the kind of play that could represent a problem for the rising Suns, who enter as the lower seed in the series, giving the home court advantage to mile-high Denver. Nikola Jokic is second among all players in assists so far in these playoffs, with the Suns superstar point guard Chris Paul placing fourth.
Jokic out-dimed Paul all season, in fact, finishing with 9.8 apg to Paul’s 8.9 apg. If Durant finds himself revisiting the thoughts he had when he sent out that “aye Jokic” tweet, that could be a big problem for Phoenix.
