Nikola Jokic dropped another triple-double on Monday night as the Denver Nuggets took down the Milwaukee Bucks, 113-107. Once again, the two-time NBA MVP put up some eye-popping numbers as he finished with 25 points, 16 rebounds, 12 assists, three steals, and two blocks in the win.
Despite his stat-stuffing effort, however, Jokic didn’t actually have a great game in this one, and the Bucks deserve a lot of credit in this regard.
Doc Rivers Comments on Milwaukee Bucks’ Defense on Nikola Jokic
Jokic needed 25 shots to get to 25 points in this one. He made just 10 of them for 40.0 percent shooting on the evening. The Nuggets big man also went 1-of-6 from beyond the arc.
All this is a testament to Milwaukee’s commendable defensive effort on the reigning NBA Finals MVP — something that Bucks head coach Doc Rivers harped on after the game:
“Yeah, Brook (Lopez) and Bobby (Portis), double, Giannis guarding him,” Rivers said of his team’s defensive game plan against Jokic, via Jim Owczarski of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “That’s exactly what we need. He had to fight for his points tonight. Difficult points. But he’s still really good, you know? But when he takes 25 shots it means a couple things. No. 1, he couldn’t find guys the way he wanted to. And then No. 2, that means he had to force a lot of tough shots. That’s what our defense has to be.”
While this was a noteworthy effort by the Bucks, the bottom line is that Jokic was still able to lead his team to victory (with a lot of help from Jamal Murray and his 35 points, of course).
This speaks volumes of just how special Jokic is. After all, not too many players out there are able to lead their team to a marquee win with a 25-point triple-double despite having a “bad” game.
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