Historic night of firsts for Nikola Jokic in Nuggets win over Hawks

The Nuggets extended their winning streak to three games on Wednesday, beating the Hawks at home,139-120. It was another rough night for Denver’s defense, but luckily, the offense resembled a well-oiled machine and the Nuggets were able to pull away for a relatively comfortable win in Ball Arena.

It was an offensive clinic for the Nuggets all night long as they had seven different players in double figures. Jamal Murray continued his recent hot streak, scoring 21 points, Michael Porter Jr. added 21 as well, while Russell Westbrook contributed 16 points and 11 assists filling in for Aaron Gordon in the starting lineup.

On top of that, it was nice to see all three of the young rotation players chipping in on offensive; Christian Braun scored 15 points, Peyton Watson had 11, and Julian Strawther added 13. Even DeAndre Jordan and Jalen Pickett got it going with 8 and 7 points respectively off the bench.

Nikola Jokic with multiple historical achievements

But as great as all of those performances were, it was Nikola Jokic stealing the show as usual. The Joker finished the night with 23 points, 17 rebounds, and 15 assists in just 29 minutes. He shot 8/16 from the field, 1/1 from three, and a perfect 6/6 from the free throw line to boot.

For Jokic, that may just sound like another night at the office. This is what we’ve come to expect and he’s basically rendered us numb to his preposterous stat lines. But this was on a whole nother level, even for Jokic.

Jokic got it going nice and early, as he became the first player in NBA history to record 11+ points, 7+ rebounds, and 6+ assists in a first quarter. The NBA started tracking play-by-play data in 1996, and Jokic is the only player to ever achieve this feat.

But that was just the beginning. Jokic also became the first player in NBA history to put up 20+ points, 15+ rebounds, and 15+ assists while playing fewer than 30 minutes. No other player has ever even reached those marks in that little time if you drop the points to 15.

And as if that wasn’t enough, Jokic recorded the 7th-fastest triple-double in NBA history, requiring just 20:16 of game time. In case you forgot, Jokic already holds that record, needing just 14:33 to record a triple-double back in 2018.

This would be the night of a lifetime for just about every player to ever pick up a basketball, but for Jokic it honestly feels routine. Sure, he was playing well, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary or anything beyond what he does on most nights.

More shots fell for him and his teammates and more balls bounced his way, but this is just who Jokic is and what he does. For the millionth time; don’t take this for granted. Appreciate every single second of Jokic that we get.