Nikola Jokic leaves fans stunned with near triple-double before halftime vs. Hawks
01/02/2025 12:15 AM
The Denver Nuggets have had a rocky season so far, but star center Nikola Jokic is still playing like an MVP and dragging the Nuggets to win after win. Even while the rest of his teammates are inconsistent and banged up, Jokic continues to stuff the stat sheet and carry this Nuggets squad.
On Wednesday night against the Hawks, Jokic got his New Year started off right. The Nuggets star nearly racked up a triple-double in the first half, heading into the locker room after 24 minutes with 13 points, nine rebounds and 10 assists.
As the three-time MVP racked up the numbers for the Nuggets, fans around the league let out their praise for the do-it-all superstar.
“It’s kinda crazy he’ll do this every night and you’ll rarely hear about it the next day on sports networks. Sports media not going absolutely nuts over this man’s season (career) will always be wild to me,” one Nuggets fan wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
“Just stop everything and give him the MVP already? Tell me ONE player who is better than him right now? Right that’s what I thought,” another Nuggets fan added.
Jokic got off to a very quick start in this one with a great first quarter. In the opening 12 minutes, Jokic became the first player since the 1996-97 season to record 11 points, seven rebounds and six assists in the opening frame, per Joel Rush of Forbes.
Jokic’s final stat line is insane as expected: 23 points, 17 rebounds and 15 assists in just 29 minutes. He helped his team pull away from a helpless Hawks squad in the third quarter, making so that Jokic could take it easy and rest on the bench on the fourth quarter while the Nuggets coasted to a 139-120 victory.
With this win, the Nuggets improve to 19-13 despite dealing with trade rumors swirling about guys like Michael Porter Jr. and Zeke Nnaji all season so far. It remains to be seen whether the Nuggets have a big move in the works, but that could be what the team needs to get Jokic some help and put themselves firmly back in the top of the Western Conference. However, as long as Jokic is playing like this, the Nuggets have a puncher’s chance against just about anybody.
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