Subscribe
Follow Us
When you think about Nikola Jokic, the first thing that comes to mind is his sheer offensive brilliance. The Denver Nuggets star already the most prolific passing center of all-time. is read on opposing defense is immaculate, and he's able to dissect opposing coverages with ease. Add to that his deadly midrange and post game, and you have arguably the best center in the league right now.
However, one underrated aspect of Jokic's game that's coming to light in the NBA Finals is his leadership. The Nuggets star is showing a perfect blueprint on how to be a leader for a championship team. Draymond Green shared his thoughts on The Joker's leadership and how it's powering Denver to their first championship.
“The emotion that [Nikola Jokic] is showing is making it okay for everybody else to show that emotion, and they’re (Nuggets) thriving off that… They smell that championship.”
Game 4 of the Finals saw Jokic and his partner-in-crime Jamal Murray struggle significantly from the field. 23-12-4 is a pedestrian statline by Joker standards, especially when he shot just 8-of-19 from the field. However, the rest of the Nuggets stepped up to lead them to victory. Aaron Gordon led the charge for Denver, dropping 27 huge points while feasting on the mismatches created by Jokic's presence.
Jokic's free-flowing game completely empowers the rest of the Nuggets to create for themselves even when he's not on the court. He's one of the best scorers of this generation; if he wanted to call his number every time down the court, that would be acceptable. That's not how Jokic works, though. Instead, he'd rather elevate his team, and we're seeing the positive effects of that now pay off.
