There is no doubt about it. Leading the Denver Nuggets to the best record in the Western Conference, Nikola Jokic has been on a tear.
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Jokic non-advanced stats:
— 25/11/9 on 62%
— First seed in West
— Leads NBA in +/-
— Tied 1st in double doubles
— Tied 1st in triple doubles
— Most APG by a center ever
— First ever 25/10/5 season on 60 FG%If you’re curious: yes, he leads the league in PER, WS, BPM and VORP. pic.twitter.com/zL6kHvT9i9
— StatMuse (@statmuse) December 21, 2022
Coming off the second of his back-to-back MVP campaigns, the Joker was not listed as one of the favorites to win the prestigious honor for the 3rd time. Clearly, the Serbian big man has taken note of that and is set to prove the bettors wrong.
After Mike Malone’s boys grabbed 3 straight losses early in December, the Colorado-based franchise managed to win 5 out of their next 6 clashes. And Nikola’s huge performances were what propelled the squad to do so.
In that 6-game span, the 6-foot-11 center went on to record 30.8 points, 14.5 rebounds, and 10.3 assists per game.
“Love Nikola Jokic and how he plays”: Shaquille O’Neal
Over the past few weeks, the 4-time All-Star has been receiving praise from numerous basketball enthusiasts and pundits from around the world.
Shaquille O’Neal was one of many who has been going gaga over Nikola’s latest form. After the 27-year-old recorded a 13/13/13 triple-double against the Grizzlies, Shaq dished out some huge compliments for the Nuggets leader.
The former Lakers legend called Jokic ‘the Tim Duncan of big men’. The HOFer further said:
“Kenny and Chuck, I hope you agree with me. He is the Tim Duncan of big men… The way he dominates the game, he’s not flashy, love this kid and how he plays.”
Now, O’Neal has not only confused Chuck and Ernie but has also left the entire social media befuddled. Jokic and Duncan both are 6-foot-11. Hence, Diesel’s comments don’t really make a lot of sense.
“Joker, O’Nealovich here!”: Shaq speaks to Jokic in Russian instead of Serbian
Before lauding the 4-time All-NBA player, the Big Aristotle tried to impress Jokic by speaking in Russian.
Now, we don’t exactly know whether Shaq was correct or not. However, there was one small mistake on his end. O’Neal didn’t consider the fact that Nikola wasn’t Russian.
Trolling the legend, the Denver leader went on to jokingly scream at the 7-footer.
Here, have a look at the exchange.
Shaq just got yelled at by Nikola Jokic for talking to him in Russian 😅pic.twitter.com/oaoUbEFUZ4
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) December 21, 2022
Clearly, Nikola was furious and who wouldn’t be? But, of course, being the nice guy, Jokic was just infuriated and he let out a big smile after. We hope he keeps that smile up and continues to school his opponents.