Even against a team as mighty as the Boston Celtics, with their superior length and prodigious talent, Nikola Jokić is simply too much. Play him straight up, as the Celtics did for most of Jokić’s 39 minutes on Thursday night, and he will feast. He will bulldoze Kristaps Porziņģis and float jumpers over Jrue Holiday. Send doubles, as Boston did down the stretch of a thrilling 115–109 Denver Nuggets win, and he will carve you up. Twice in the final five minutes the Celtics thought they had Jokić pinned down. Twice Jokić found the slimmest of seams to deliver passes for easy twos.
“Jokić,” said Jaylen Brown, “is just a monster down there.”
It has been an extraordinary season in Boston. The Celtics have the best record, the best point differential and the best offensive rating the NBA has seen in years. Yet two of the 14 blemishes on Boston’s resume were delivered by Denver, which handed the Celtics their first loss on their home floor in January and extended Boston’s losing streak to two games with a win Thursday. It was Denver’s seventh victory since the All-Star break, and a firm reminder that the road to a championship still runs through the Rockies.
