The long nightmare is finally over, and after the longest absence of his career, Nikola Jokic was back in action for the Nuggets on Friday night. Jokic got injured on December 29th in a game against the Heat and missed the next 16 games with a bone bruise in his knee.
Almost exactly one month later, the Joker was back on the floor, and he looked like his usual self. Other than wearing a brace that covered his whole leg, Jokic really didn’t look much different out there, attacking the basket early, dazzling with some highlight-reel passes, and controlling the game with the ball on a string.
He was limited to just 24 minutes in his return, but he made the most of it, putting up 31 points, 12 rebounds, and 5 assists, shooting 8-11 from the floor, and living at the line, making 13-17 free throws.
The Nuggets were +11 in Jokic’s minutes as he led them to an impressive 122-109 win over the Clippers, who came in as the hottest team in the NBA. The Clippers had no answers for the Joker, and even with Aaron Gordon, Cam Johnson, and Christian Braun still missing, the Nuggets had no problems with a team that had won 16 of 19.
Jokic looked good after knee injury
It seemed like Jokic was on a mission to come out and prove that he was fine. He was aggressive from the jump, scoring 9 points in the first 6 minutes, and he never looked back. We’ll see how he feels a day after his first action in over a month, but all the early indications were great.
The Nuggets will get Saturday off before a massive game on Sunday, meeting the defending champs, the Thunder, for the first time this season. You’ve got to assume that Jokic will still be on a minutes restriction, but even 25 minutes of him is obviously a massive boon to a team that was already playing extremely well without him.
And because of that great play, the Nuggets can be cautious with their three-time MVP. Hopefully, Jokic keeps ramping up and is back to his full minutes load before long, but it’s nice to know the team can survive without him.
They can ease him back slowly and can afford to give him games off whenever he needs one. Those hoping to see him push for MVP or make All-NBA may not want to hear that, but the only thing that matters is winning a title, and that means getting the best possible version of Jokic once the playoffs start. If that means missing more than one game the rest of the way, and missing out on awards, so be it.