Jokic Drops 35-14-13-5-2 as Nuggets Win 9th Straight, Climb to 3rd Seed

Nikola Jokic is doing Nikola Jokic things again, and the rest of the NBA should be terrified. In a 137-132 OT win over Portland, the big man put up 35 points, 14 rebounds, 13 assists, 5 steals, and 2 blocks. That's not a stat line — that's a cheat code. He's leading the league in assists (10.9) AND rebounds (12.9) while scoring 28 a game on 66.9% true shooting. Nobody in NBA history has done that.

The Nuggets have now won nine straight games and climbed to the 3-seed in the West at 51-28. They were left for dead in February, hovering around .500 and looking like a play-in team. Now they're the hottest team in basketball heading into the playoffs. Alan Hahn and Iman Shumpert both said it on ESPN today: Denver is being criminally overlooked in the Western Conference conversation.

Are the Nuggets being overlooked? When you have Jokic playing like this, you overlook them at your own risk. He's averaging a near triple-double for the season and just had arguably the most complete game by any player this year. The MVP race should be a two-man conversation between him and Wembanyama.