Nikola Jokic is simply playing basketball on a level that no other human seems to have reached. The Denver Nuggets star was dominant yet again, which is par for the course for him, but he thoroughly obliterated the Los Angeles Clippers even though they were on the second night of a back-to-back en route to a 130-116 win for Denver. Jokic, who's been on a tear as of late, put up a bonkers stat line of 55 points, 12 rebounds, six assists, one steal and one block while making 18 of his 23 shot attempts from the field.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander may be trying his best, but the stat lines Jokic puts up on a nightly basis simply cannot be matched. The Nuggets star has become the first player in NBA history to record a 50-point game, a 30/15/15 night, and a 25-point outing without any free-throw attempts in a single season — and he did all of those in just eight days, as pointed out by Jake Coyne of Stats Perform.
Just to put Jokic's greatness in further perspective, the Nuggets star became the first player in NBA history to score at least 90 points over a two-day span while shooting over 80 percent from the field, as per OptaSTATS on X (formerly Twitter).
Jokic can put any defender the opposition throws at him through the blender, that much is clear. But this Clippers team, one would think, should at least be equipped to slow him down, what with Ivica Zubac and Brook Lopez protecting the paint. Alas, the Nuggets star is just so good that it never matters who his primary defender is.
Nuggets move to 9-2 on the season amid injury woes
The Nuggets have been so good already this year that it's becoming easy to forget that someone like Cam Johnson is struggling. Even Jamal Murray had a rough shooting night (5-16) on Wednesday.
In fact, the Nuggets lost two starters during their Wednesday clash against the Clippers, with Johnson and Christian Braun having to exit due to injuries. But this is where Denver's newfound depth should come in handy. They will at least have two full days of rest, as their next game will be on Saturday against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
