Nikola Jokic is a master of taking whatever the defense gives him, and on Friday night, the Boston Celtics were giving him the chance to operate one-on-one. With that chance, he became a scorer instead of a facilitator and dropped 34 points to lead the Denver Nuggets to a 102-100 win and end the Celtics’ perfect 20-0 start at home.
Jokic prefers to pass the ball and get his teammates involved, but he’s one of the most crafty and efficient scorers in the game, and he showed off all his tricks in this one. Here’s a rundown of his baskets:
Turnaround hook in the post
Drop-step layup on the left block
Fadeaway jumper from the post
Drop-step layup on the right block
Catch-and-shoot 3-pointer
Spinning fadeaway from the free throw line
Layup
Drop-step layup on the left block
Turnaround fadeaway in the paint
Jump hook
Catch-and-shoot 3-pointer
Euro-step runner from the free throw line
Turnaround fadeaway off the glass
Jump hook
And his shot chart for good measure:
screenshot-2024-01-19-at-9-42-55-pm.png
Nikola Jokic’s shot chart vs. the Celtics NBA.com/stats
Jokic went 14-of-22 from the field against the second-best defense in the league. A defense that possesses two elite interior defenders in Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford. And while the Celtics were letting him go one-on-one to try and limit the Nuggets’ ball movement, they certainly weren’t letting him score. A number of those shots were highly contested and he deserved an and-one on a few of them, and he still barely missed.
“As I said before, he’s the best player in the world,” Porzingis said postgame.
Here’s the highlight reel so you can see for yourself:
Perhaps the crazier note is that he shot 63.6% from the field and it was his second-least efficient outing in nearly a month. Dating back to Dec. 28, when he made history with a perfect triple-double on 11-of-11 from the field, Jokic has made 110 of his 147 shots over 11 games. Of the 115 other players who have taken at least 100 field goals in that span, none are shooting better than 68.4%, and only five have cracked the 60% mark.
The Nuggets needed every single one of Jokic’s buckets against the Celtics, as they held on down the stretch for their most impressive win of the season. Coming into the national TV showdown, the Celtics were 20-0 at TD Garden, which was the best home start in franchise history and tied for the 11th-best home start in league history.
While the Celtics still have the best record in the league at 32-10, Jokic and the Nuggets reminded everyone on Friday that the title still runs through Denver. Nikola Jokic is a master of taking whatever the defense gives him, and on Friday night, the Boston Celtics were giving him the chance to operate one-on-one. With that chance, he became a scorer instead of a facilitator and dropped 34 points to lead the Denver Nuggets to a 102-100 win and end the Celtics’ perfect 20-0 start at home.
Jokic prefers to pass the ball and get his teammates involved, but he’s one of the most crafty and efficient scorers in the game, and he showed off all his tricks in this one. Here’s a rundown of his baskets:
Turnaround hook in the post
Drop-step layup on the left block
Fadeaway jumper from the post
Drop-step layup on the right block
Catch-and-shoot 3-pointer
Spinning fadeaway from the free throw line
Layup
Drop-step layup on the left block
Turnaround fadeaway in the paint
Jump hook
Catch-and-shoot 3-pointer
Euro-step runner from the free throw line
Turnaround fadeaway off the glass
Jump hook
And his shot chart for good measure:
screenshot-2024-01-19-at-9-42-55-pm.png
Nikola Jokic’s shot chart vs. the Celtics NBA.com/stats
Jokic went 14-of-22 from the field against the second-best defense in the league. A defense that possesses two elite interior defenders in Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford. And while the Celtics were letting him go one-on-one to try and limit the Nuggets’ ball movement, they certainly weren’t letting him score. A number of those shots were highly contested and he deserved an and-one on a few of them, and he still barely missed.
“As I said before, he’s the best player in the world,” Porzingis said postgame.
Here’s the highlight reel so you can see for yourself:
Perhaps the crazier note is that he shot 63.6% from the field and it was his second-least efficient outing in nearly a month. Dating back to Dec. 28, when he made history with a perfect triple-double on 11-of-11 from the field, Jokic has made 110 of his 147 shots over 11 games. Of the 115 other players who have taken at least 100 field goals in that span, none are shooting better than 68.4%, and only five have cracked the 60% mark.
The Nuggets needed every single one of Jokic’s buckets against the Celtics, as they held on down the stretch for their most impressive win of the season. Coming into the national TV showdown, the Celtics were 20-0 at TD Garden, which was the best home start in franchise history and tied for the 11th-best home start in league history.
While the Celtics still have the best record in the league at 32-10, Jokic and the Nuggets reminded everyone on Friday that the title still runs through Denver.