Nikola Jokic has broken the record for the most triple-doubles in a single postseason, surpassing the record of seven set by Wilt Chamberlain way back in 1967.
Jokic achieved the feat in his Denver Nuggets' Game 4 against the Los Angeles Lakers. He reached the triple-double in the third quarter with his tenth assist, which went with 20 points and 13 rebounds to that point in the game.
His eighth triple-double for the postseason came in just 14 games, after he racked up two against the Minnesota Timberwolves, three against the Phoenix Suns, and three in the opening four games of the series against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Among those games have been a couple of extraordinary statistical performances from the two-time MVP. He had 30-17-17 in Game 3 against the Suns, while in the opening game of this series against the Lakers he had a lazy 34-21-14.
It's an extraordinary performance to break Chamberlain's record from the man most now see as the best player in the game at the moment, and the statistics are far from empty. Prior to Game 4, Jokic was averaging 29.9 points, 13.2 rebounds and 10.1 assists per game in the playoffs this season. Those 29.9 points have come on an efficient 54.4% from the field and include a huge 47.1% from the three-point line, while his 10.1 assists have been accompanied by a relatively low 3.6 turnovers per game.
When Chamberlain achieved the feat, he averaged 21.7 points, an absurd 29.1 rebounds, and 9.0 assists throughout the course of the 1967 playoffs. As those numbers – particularly the rebounds – show, the game was very different back then, but what hasn't changed was the ultimate goal such individual dominance can lead to. That year, Wilt Chamberlain led his Philadelphia 76ers to a championship. The way the Nuggets are travelling, Nikola Jokic may very well be about to do the same.
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