Jokic, Nikola (1995- )

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      NBA Christmas Day Games 2022: What to Know

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      The N.B.A. brings out its stars on Christmas. This year, there will be some new rivalries, too.The N.B.A. showcases its stars on Christmas Day, and this year there will be some big names to watch, like LeBron James, Jayson Tatum and Joel Embiid.There will also be a new face in the mix (Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant is playing on the holiday for the first time) and a familiar one missing (Golden State’s Stephen Curry is out injured).In each of the five games, there is something to look forward to, from young players trying to make their mark to older foes avenging playoff losses.Here’s what you need to know.All times are Eastern, and all games will air on ABC and ESPN. The statistics were current entering Friday night’s games.Philadelphia 76ers at Knicks, noonJames Harden missed several games for the Sixers with an injury, but he’s back and helping them stack up wins.Matt Slocum/Associated PressAfter rocky starts, these teams are finally clicking. The Knicks surged up the Eastern Conference standings on the strength of a recent winning streak, while Philadelphia was compiling a streak of its own.They met on Nov. 4, with the Knicks winning, but Philadelphia didn’t have its two best players: center Joel Embiid and guard James Harden. That makes Sunday’s game the teams’ first true matchup. The Knicks have played on Christmas more often than any other team, but this is the first time they will have Jalen Brunson, their big free-agent signing of the off-season.Brunson, a guard who spent his first four seasons in Dallas, leads the Knicks in assists and is the team’s second-best scorer, behind forward Julius Randle. For the first quarter of the season, the Knicks struggled to string together wins. But then December hit, and they found their stride.That’s when fortunes improved for the Sixers, too. Harden had missed more than a dozen games with a foot injury but returned this month to produce several impressive games with double-digit assist totals. The Knicks will, of course, have to watch out for Embiid as well. Last month, in a game against the Utah Jazz, he had this wild stat line: 59 points, 11 rebounds, 8 assists and 7 blocks.Los Angeles Lakers at Dallas Mavericks, 2:30 p.m.Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic is in his fifth N.B.A. season but has already been named to the All-Star team three times.Emil Lippe/Associated PressFans can seemingly always count on seeing the Lakers on Christmas — this is the 24th year in a row — but nothing else about the team has been that consistent.Even as LeBron James, who will turn 38 on Friday, continues to defy reason with his youthful play, minor injuries keep tugging him to the bench. Then there’s the major injury to center Anthony Davis, who is out indefinitely with a sore right foot. Other ailments have rippled through the roster, and the Lakers’ sub-.500 record reflects that. But it also reflects an aging team that got off to a terrible start (0-5) and hasn’t settled into a high-performing rhythm since then.All of that is to say: The Lakers have been a little bit all over the place.Dallas has been, too. Luka Doncic is playing and scoring more than last season, but the Mavericks are losing to bad teams right after beating good ones. The Lakers could fall into either category on Sunday. At the very least, it should be a fun game, with Doncic and James battling to see who can put on the best show. They are both capable of making even the earliest risers hold off on a midday nap.Milwaukee Bucks at Boston Celtics, 5 p.m.Jayson Tatum led the Celtics to the N.B.A. finals last season and has followed that up with high-scoring play this season.David Butler II/USA Today Sports, via ReutersBoston’s Jayson Tatum has responded to his disappointing appearance in the N.B.A. finals last season in the best way: by playing better than ever before. He’s leading the league in minutes per game (37.2), and he’s putting them to good use, averaging a career-best 30.6 points per game by making about half of his shots.The Celtics will face a Bucks team with a not-so-shabby star of its own in Giannis Antetokounmpo. Last season ended in playoff disappointment for him, too, with Milwaukee falling to Boston in seven games in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. Sunday will be his first chance for a little revenge.The Bucks and the Celtics are jockeying for first place in the East, though they are fighting with different strengths. Boston has the league’s second-best offense, while Milwaukee has the third-best defense. The postseason is still a ways off, but it would be a surprise not to see one of these teams in the N.B.A. finals. Their Christmas matchup should help each team see what it needs to work on to make sure it’s the one playing for a title.Memphis Grizzlies at Golden State, 8 p.m.Ja Morant has made the Grizzlies one of the most exciting teams to watch in recent years. Brandon Dill/Associated PressNo one can argue that the Grizzlies haven’t earned this, their Christmas debut.Point guard Ja Morant is the speedy, soaring, confident heart of the team, but Memphis is more than its brightest star — and Morant would be the first to say so. He’s averaging a career-best 7.8 assists per game as he and his teammates keep the Grizzlies near the top of a tightly contested Western Conference.They finished last season as the No. 2 seed in the West and could have made a run to the conference finals if Golden State (and injuries) hadn’t gotten in their way in the second round. Sunday will be the teams’ first meeting since then.Both teams have dealt with their share of injuries this season, but Golden State has an especially big one: Stephen Curry has been out since he hurt his shoulder against Indiana on Dec. 14, and it’s not clear when he will return.Golden State is currently ranked in the bottom half of the West, but the intensity of last season’s playoff series with Memphis should carry over and make Sunday’s game a good contest nonetheless.Phoenix Suns at Denver Nuggets, 10:30 p.m.Denver’s Nikola Jokic won the Most Valuable Player Award the past two seasons.Kevin C. Cox/Getty ImagesThe last game on a long day of basketball is easy to overlook. But Denver’s Nikola Jokic is sure to make at least one pass that will make staying up late worth it. That’s kind of his thing: One minute he has the ball, and then the next his teammate on the other side of the court does, and no one is quite sure how it happened. The Suns are a top-10 defensive team, but some things just can’t be stopped.Phoenix is also the league’s best on offense, which could be a challenge for the Nuggets, who are among the N.B.A.’s worst on defense. Suns guard Chris Paul is one of the best ever at getting the ball to his teammates. Paul led the league in assists last season, his fifth time doing so, and is averaging about nine per game this season.If this game’s late start isn’t a deal-breaker, it should be a nice chance to see some excellent passing and skilled shooters making good on the assist. More

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      How Is Nikola Jokic This Good Again?

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      With his seamless passing and box-score-busting offense, Jokic, the superstar Denver Nuggets center, is showing why his coach calls him a “generational talent.”DENVER — Nikola Jokic didn’t look like himself in some ways. He was missing layups and had been called for a technical foul. He made silly turnovers, was late on several defensive rotations and tallied just two assists in the first half.But by the time that game against the Charlotte Hornets was over, Jokic had amassed an eye-popping stat line: 40 points, 27 rebounds and 10 assists. It was the first time a player had compiled at least 35 points, 25 rebounds and 10 assists since Wilt Chamberlain did so in 1968. Jokic set a Denver Nuggets record by grabbing 20 rebounds in the first half alone, amid all of his miscues.That’s the level Jokic is at nowadays: Even his off games are record-breaking.“I didn’t know it was a 40, 27 and 10 night,” Nuggets Coach Michael Malone said after the game Sunday. “But I knew that he was having just another Nikola Jokic stellar performance.”The next game was Tuesday night against the Memphis Grizzlies, the only team standing between the Nuggets and the best record in the Western Conference. Jokic meticulously dismantled Memphis by tossing out 13 assists, feeding his teammates as if he were Mary Poppins among birds, as part of a triple-double in a 14-point win.The almost routine dominance of Jokic — Malone called him “a generational talent” — is bolstering his case to become the first N.B.A. player to win three straight Most Valuable Player Awards since Larry Bird, who won from 1984 to 1986 with the Boston Celtics. The only other players to do so were Wilt Chamberlain (1966 to 1968 with the 76ers) and Bill Russell (1961 to 1963 with Boston).But it’s not just awards that set Jokic apart from other stars.Some players seem to defy the laws of physics with their athleticism. Jokic is not fast. His vertical is more of a horizontal. He isn’t particularly muscular and often looks winded, with his shoulders sagging. When he shoots 3-pointers, he slowly winds up and casually flicks his wrist, as if basketball is interrupting his day.Yet Jokic, 27, makes flashy passes look effortless and punishes opponents with brute force at the basket. Alex English, a Hall of Famer who won a scoring title for the Nuggets in 1983, said Jokic makes it seem like he “doesn’t have to work so hard.”“His footwork is just unbelievable,” English said. “Guys, they don’t know what he’s going to do because he’s got such great footwork. He is just the total package.”Early in the third quarter against Memphis on Tuesday, Jokic caught the ball near the perimeter, instantly tossed the ball between his legs without looking and found a cutting Bruce Brown for a dunk, drawing oohs and aahs from the crowd. That was the amuse-bouche for minutes later, when he coolly tossed a blind over-the-head pass from the low post to Aaron Gordon for another dunk.“You just have to be ready for the ball, no matter where you are or where he is on the court because he can find you,” Zeke Nnaji, a third-year reserve forward for the Nuggets, said in the locker room on Sunday.When Jokic is on the court, the Nuggets’ offense is on par with the league’s best teams. When he sits, it is the worst, a remarkable swing. This year, teammates like Gordon, Brown and guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope are having great years, in part because of the open shots Jokic has created. In the case of Brown, roughly half his shots have been “open” or “wide open,” according to the league’s tracking numbers. Last year, when Brown was with the Nets, that number was only 38.3 percent.One of the most effective plays the Nuggets run involves Jokic catching the ball around the free-throw line, leaving the entire court at his disposal. If a double team comes, Jokic casually finds shooters or cutters. If he is single-covered, Jokic simply backs down the defender or shoots over him. He doesn’t move quickly. He gets to where he needs to go, or makes sure the ball does.Jokic, for the third straight season, is leading the league in multiple advanced statistical categories, in large part because of his ruthless efficiency. He’s averaging 24.7 points a game, and his true shooting percentage (a measure of scoring efficiency that factors in free throws) — is 68.8 percent. No one has ever averaged 20 points per game with at least 69 percent true shooting for a season. (During the 1981-82 season, Artis Gilmore averaged 18.5 points a game on 70.2 percent true shooting.)And Jokic does have shortcomings: He’s not a strong defender, even though he’s the only center in the league’s top 20 in steals. Opposing teams with quick guards often look to attack him when he’s on defense. In the two games this week, Hornets and Grizzlies guards sought Jokic out in transition and stepped right around him for easy layups.Quick guards, like Charlotte’s Terry Rozier, center, often can zip past Jokic.Isaiah J. Downing/USA Today Sports, via ReutersHis matchup against Memphis guard Ja Morant on Tuesday was a battle in contrasts. Morant is a high-flying speedster who seems to have an internal joystick set to turbo at all times. Jokic, listed at 6-foot-11, has nine dunks on the year. Morant, at 6-foot-2, has 19. Though the Grizzlies lost, Morant’s output was certainly that of a superstar — 35 points and 10 assists — and he, like Jokic, could be in the conversation for the M.V.P. Award.Several players have won twice in a row, including Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo immediately before Jokic. But few have won the following year, even if, like Jokic, they continued to play well. Michael Wilbon, the ESPN broadcaster and longtime M.V.P. voter, said that voter fatigue is “probably” a real factor in voting, though “not consciously.”“You just start to examine your own judgment and you’re saying, ‘Wait a minute, is this person so dominant that he should be installed in this position in a league that has great stars every year?’” Wilbon said.Whether Jokic wins again or not is almost besides the point. He is one of the best shows to watch — not just in the N.B.A., but in all of professional sports. Even though he’s won individual honors, he does not seem to get the attention that other top stars get. Maybe it’s because he plays in a smaller market like Denver. Maybe it’s because he doesn’t do many commercials and isn’t active on social media. Maybe it’s because he hasn’t won a championship.But this month will mark only the third time in Jokic’s eight-year career that the N.B.A. will showcase the Nuggets on Christmas, a day the league typically reserves for the league’s marquee players. Last year, despite Jokic being the reigning M.V.P., the league snubbed the Nuggets when deciding the holiday’s schedule.That’s on the league for depriving viewers of a unicorn: a slow-footed, lumbering big man who manages to awe on a nightly basis in a way no one of his size and physique has before dribbling a basketball. More

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      NBA Season Preview: The Nets and the Lakers Are the Wild Cards

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      Even for a league used to drama and headlines, the N.B.A. had a dizzying off-season.There were trade requests (Kevin Durant) and trade rumors (Russell Westbrook); injuries (Chet Holmgren) and returns (Zion Williamson). The power structure of the Western Conference could be upended by the return of Kawhi Leonard with the Clippers; the power structure of the East is again unclear.And a series of scandals at Boston, Phoenix and Golden State could have lasting implications for the league.In short: A lot is going on.Headline More

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      Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets Wins Second NBA MVP Award

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      A 6-foot-11 center, Jokic stands out among N.B.A. big men with his ability to score from inside and outside and bang the boards while finding open teammates.Nikola Jokic, the Denver Nuggets center with the passing touch and shooting stroke of a guard, won the N.B.A.’s Most Valuable Player Award for the second consecutive season.Jokic, 27, received 65 of 100 first-place votes. Last season, he was the top choice of 91 of 101 voters from members of the news media and a fan vote.The 6-foot-11 Jokic stands out among big men with how he can score from inside and bang the boards, yet also hit from outside and find open teammates. He averaged 27.1 points per game during the regular season, the second most among centers, behind Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid, who was the league’s overall scoring leader and finished second with 26 first-place votes. Jokic was best among centers in assists, with 7.9 per game.His ability to palm the ball and execute passes, rebounds and floaters with one hand has been likened to a player in water polo, a game Jokic enjoyed as a child in Serbia, where the sport is phenomenally popular. His combination of skills has made him the focal point of the Nuggets’ sixth-ranked offense.Jokic’s stats during the regular season were consistent with last season’s M.V.P. figures, and he increased his defensive rebounding to 11 a game from 8. He ranked in the top 10 in points, assists and rebounds.He became the first player in N.B.A. history with 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 500 assists in a season. Only Wilt Chamberlain, Kevin Garnett and Oscar Robertson have come within 10 percent of those three figures in statistics for a single season.Jokic was a 19-year-old playing for Mega Basket of Serbia in the Adriatic League when the Nuggets drafted him in the second round in 2014. Jusuf Nurkic and Gary Harris, Denver’s first-rounders that year through a trade with Chicago, drew the attention, while Jokic was considered a speculative pick.He came to the N.B.A. in the 2015-16 season and finished third in the rookie of the year voting, averaging 10 points a game. By his fourth season, in 2018-19, he was averaging 20.1 points per game and had been named an All-Star. That season, he led the Nuggets to their first playoff berth in six years and their first playoff series win in 10. Denver made it to the conference finals in 2019-20.The loss of guard Jamal Murray for the 2021-22 season to a knee injury was a blow to the Nuggets, and as a sixth seed in the Western Conference playoffs, they lost in the first round to a hot Golden State team that was peaking at the right time, four games to one.The Nuggets’ future is always going to look bright with Jokic on the roster. He said last month that he expected to sign a supermax contract extension with the team. “If offer’s on the table of course I’m going to accept it,” Jokic said. More

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      Steph Curry Returns, and Golden State Beats the Nuggets

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      Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, Golden State’s championship core, are back together in the postseason for the first time since 2019.Klay Thompson was splashing 3-pointers. Draymond Green was making stops and deftly finding open cutters. Stephen Curry drew several defenders any time he touched the ball.The threesome who redefined basketball en route to winning multiple championships with the Golden State Warriors reunited in the playoffs on Saturday for the first time since 2019. And like in many games of that era, the high-octane Warriors were dominant, defeating the Denver Nuggets in the opener of their first-round playoff matchup, 123-107.In a surprise move, Curry began the game on the bench. In his place, Coach Steve Kerr started the third-year guard Jordan Poole, who made a leap this year. The move appeared to be aimed at keeping Curry on a strict minutes limit. This was his first game since March 16, when he injured his left foot against the Boston Celtics.The swap paid off. Poole was exceptional in his first career playoff game, scoring 30 points — a game high — on 9 for 13 shooting, electrifying the Chase Center crowd in San Francisco. He played as if he had long been a mainstay of postseason basketball. At one point, he did a dance after scoring a difficult basket. It was that kind of night. On a team of stars who had played on some of the most talented teams in league history, it was a 22-year-old selected with the 28th pick of the 2019 draft who stole the show as Golden State attempted to recapture the N.B.A. throne.Jordan Poole has been a key source of offense for Golden State this season, with injuries keeping top stars off the court for months at a time. He had 30 points on Saturday.Ezra Shaw/Getty Images“Jordan Poole, wow, what a playoff debut,” Thompson raved to reporters after the game, adding: “We should be very grateful for Jordan’s development and the type of player he’s become because he’s just incredible. I mean, what a star in the making.”The last time Curry came off the bench during the playoffs was May 1, 2018, the second game of the Western Conference semifinals against the New Orleans Pelicans, when he was returning from a knee injury. Saturday against Denver was only the third playoff game of Curry’s career in which he played but didn’t start.He entered the contest about halfway through the first quarter to a loud ovation. Almost immediately, Curry made his presence felt, finding Thompson for an open 3-pointer from the corner and sneaking a pass between two defenders to an open Green for a dunk. Otherwise, he struggled, shooting 5 for 13 from the field for 16 points. But his presence alone still drew outsize attention from the Nuggets, and the Warriors outscored Denver by 17 points with Curry on the floor.“It was nice to feel the playoff vibe again, and obviously it is different coming off the bench and trying to make the most of the minutes that are appropriate right now,” Curry said.Poole’s strong play presents a dilemma — of the good kind — for Kerr going forward. With Curry back, can he send Poole to the bench for the rest of the playoffs?“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Kerr said.Poole’s strong play will give Kerr more options for the rest of the series. For one thing, he can deploy a three-guard lineup of Curry, Thompson and Poole — three playmakers and shooters. It’s reminiscent of the closing small-ball lineups that the Warriors used to deploy at their best during their championship runs of the last decade — except with Poole playing the part of Andre Iguodala, who now has a smaller role.An added benefit of Poole’s emergence is that it allows Golden State to ease Curry’s ramp up coming off the foot injury. Kerr declined to say whether Curry would come off the bench again for Game 2 on Monday.Klay Thompson had 19 points, including 5 of 10 3-pointers, in Golden State’s win over the Denver Nuggets on Saturday. He injured his knee in his last playoff game, in 2019.Jeff Chiu/Associated PressThompson, meanwhile, looked like the player he was before he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during the 2019 N.B.A. finals. He moved swiftly to find open looks for himself, en route to five 3-pointers and 19 points overall.“Before the tip I thought about all the days in the gym, the days in a doctor’s office, on the surgery table and then just to be flying up and down the court, knocking shots down and playing solid defense, it was a surreal moment for me,” Thompson said after the game.Denver, on the other hand, will have to go back to the drawing board.Golden State was able to flummox the Nuggets’ top star, Nikola Jokic, who is the favorite to win his second Most Valuable Player Award. The Warriors constantly forced Jokic into difficult shots and frustrated him with a steady stream of double teams. They also attempted to tire him out defensively by setting up possessions with him as the primary defender. On possession after possession, Jokic was sent scurrying after the speedy Golden State ballhandlers.“They were just better than us in every aspect of the game,” Jokic said.But the Warriors also have Green, who won the Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2016-17. He was able to do something most defenders can’t: guard Jokic one on one for multiple possessions, freeing his Golden State teammates to stay attached to other Nuggets players Jokic might pass to.By the time the fourth quarter came around, Jokic looked exhausted. He finished with 25 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists. He went to the free throw line two times, despite attempting 25 shots. Denver appeared to be frustrated with the officiating.“I think there were some times where, you know, his jersey was getting pulled out a lot,” Nuggets Coach Mike Malone said. “So I don’t know. We got to see how they’re guarding him and how we can make them pay for how they’re guarding him.”Golden State’s Draymond Green had 12 points, 6 rebounds and 9 assists against Denver on Saturday. He missed dozens of regular-season games with a back injury.Ezra Shaw/Getty ImagesWhen Jokic was asked about the officiating after the game by a reporter, he said, “My friend, I think I’m going to get fined if I answer.”The playoff opener was a return to the postseason spotlight for the core Golden State players who won championships in 2015, 2017 and 2018. Curry, Green, Thompson and Iguodala are the top four leaders in franchise history for postseason games played. But this was the first time, in large part because of injuries, that the Warriors had made the playoffs since 2019, when the team lost in the finals to the Toronto Raptors in six games. The only time all four of them played in the same game this year was on Jan. 9, Thompson’s first game back after missing two seasons with leg injuries. Green only started that game briefly, to support Thompson, before sitting the rest of the night.Both teams had significant injury issues during the season. Green missed more than two months of the regular season for Golden State with a back injury. For Denver, Michael Porter Jr. and Jamal Murray missed most or all of the season; they often can take the pressure off Jokic for playmaking.This was Denver’s fourth straight year making the playoffs; the team has made it out of the first round each of the past three seasons.There is a source of solace for Denver: In each of those series, the Nuggets lost the first game. The Nuggets will attempt to tie the seven-game series at one game apiece on Monday. But they looked overmatched on Saturday night.“We can’t beat ourselves and the Warriors in the same game,” Malone said. “We did that tonight.” More

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      The N.B.A.’s Early Story Lines: Missing Stars, Big-Time Bulls, Jokic

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      The Chicago Bulls have stood out for their surprising success on the court. But three stars have been in the spotlight without ever taking a shot.After two seasons that were dramatically disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, the N.B.A. thought it was returning to some version of normal this year. Instead, a wave of infections in the past few weeks has had a major impact on rosters and schedules, prompting game postponements and sidelining key players.Before that, though, several key story lines had begun emerging on the court.Golden State and Phoenix have established themselves as the best teams in the Western Conference, while the Lakers, laden with former All-Stars, have struggled to find their way. And even though injuries have stymied the Nuggets as a team, their big man Nikola Jokic has been making a case to win the Most Valuable Player Award again.The Chicago Bulls have proved to be surprising contenders with a team of former castoffs who have played brilliantly together. In the East, only the Nets have a better record than the Bulls, despite playing without Kyrie Irving so far this season.While Irving’s absence has to do with his vaccination status, two other stars have been out for contract-related reasons — Houston’s John Wall and Philadelphia’s Ben Simmons. How their situations resolve could have consequences for the way players and teams resolve conflict in the future.With Christmas Day — what some consider the unofficial start of the N.B.A. season — looming, here’s a look at three important story lines so far this season.Stars Go M.I.A.New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson has not played this season because of a foot injury.Jeff Chiu/Associated PressPhiladelphia 76ers guard Ben Simmons has not played this season after asking to be traded and as he tends to his mental health.Matt Rourke/Associated PressEven before teams began cycling through replacement players to deal with Covid-related absences, some big names were missing this season.There is, of course, the soap opera in Philadelphia, where Ben Simmons requested — demanded? — a trade from the 76ers over the summer. A standoff ensued before Simmons, a three-time All-Star and the team’s starting point guard, made a couple of cameos at preseason practice. The 76ers subsequently suspended him for conduct detrimental to the team. Daryl Morey, the 76ers’ general manager, has said that he will trade Simmons only for a “difference maker,” and he has clearly been methodical in his approach to weighing offers.In Houston, the Rockets are undergoing a rebuild — and John Wall does not figure into their plans. Wall said in September that he and the Rockets agreed he would not play while the team sought a new team for him. But Wall is 31 with a surgically repaired Achilles’ tendon, and his onerous contract includes a player option worth more than $47 million next season. The search for a trade partner continues.Houston guard John Wall, right, has not played as the Rockets try to find a trade partner.Carmen Mandato/Getty ImagesAnd in New Orleans, the Pelicans are still awaiting Zion Williamson’s return to the court — a theme that has become all too familiar to fans. After undergoing off-season surgery to repair a fracture in his right foot, Williamson has experienced a series of setbacks. His scheduled return to practice this month was scuttled when he reported soreness in his foot. Medical imaging later revealed a “regression” in the healing process, which led the team to abandon any sort of targeted timeline. He remains indefinitely sidelined.When healthy, Williamson has been one of the league’s most dynamic young players. The No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 draft, he was named to his first All-Star team last season. But he appeared in just 24 games as a rookie because of a torn meniscus in his right knee, and has now played in just 85 career games while missing more than 90. Without Williamson, a bruising forward who is 6-foot-6 and not particularly slim, the Pelicans have scuffled to one of the worst records in the league.Surprise Success: The Chicago BullsBulls guard Lonzo Ball is shooting better than ever in his first season with Chicago.Elsa/Getty ImagesThe Chicago Bulls’ resurgent season was interrupted last week when a coronavirus outbreak sent 10 of their players into the league’s health protocols and the N.B.A. postponed two of their games.They returned to play Sunday, still depleted, in a game against the Lakers, and got right back to winning.The Bulls have been led by DeMar DeRozan, whose emphasis on midrange jumpers has led him to be treated like a relic. DeRozan is averaging 26.8 points per game this season, ranking fifth in the league. He missed 10 days after entering the coronavirus protocols with what he told reporters in Chicago was an asymptomatic case.While he was out, the Bulls relied more on guard Lonzo Ball, who has made dazzling assists all season and is running the team’s offense beautifully. Chicago recently lost a second-round pick after the N.B.A. concluded that the Bulls had tampered in order to sign Ball in free agency over the summer. But that penalty might have been worth it: Ball is shooting better than ever, especially from 3-point range, where he has made more than 40 percent of his shots.Bulls guard Zach LaVine is averaging 26 points per game, second most on the team.Kamil Krzaczynski/USA Today Sports, via ReutersBulls guard Alex Caruso is making an impact on both ends of the floor, especially on defense.Kamil Krzaczynski/USA Today Sports, via ReutersZach LaVine, who starts at guard alongside Ball, has had nearly identical statistical production to DeRozan, including averaging 26 points per game. Meanwhile, center Nikola Vucevic is averaging double-digit rebounds.Off the bench, Alex Caruso has changed games with his defensive intensity, and is averaging two steals per game — second best in the league. Caruso’s defense is what earned him a shot in the N.B.A. to begin with.The success so far is a welcome change for a franchise that hasn’t been to the playoffs since 2017. The Bulls last made the Eastern Conference finals in 2011, led by Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah.They won’t play with the marquee teams on Christmas, because few saw this start coming. But they’ll have plenty of chances to prove they belong among the best in the league.An Underrated M.V.P.?Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic has often been left out of M.V.P. conversations this season.David Zalubowski/Associated PressNikola Jokic can’t jump particularly high or move all that fast. He’s rarely the most muscular player on the floor.But Jokic is having the best season in the N.B.A. While players like Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Giannis Antetokounmpo and LeBron James are often cited as the top candidates to wear the best player crown in this era, Jokic is outproducing them all. He’s somehow playing even better than last season, when he won the Most Valuable Player Award.For context, explore his advanced numbers: Entering this week, Jokic was at .312 win shares per 48 minutes, a measure of how many wins can be attributed to a player. His was the best in the league, and on a pace to be the 10th best in N.B.A. history. Another number: Jokic’s player efficiency rating, a measure of contributions per minute, was 34.22 entering this week, the highest in the league. He is even been better on defense.When we watch Jokic play basketball, we aren’t just seeing one of the N.B.A.’s best in his prime. We’re watching one of the best players of the last 30 years. But he hasn’t been a part of much M.V.P. chatter this season. After Denver’s run to the Western Conference semifinals last season, the Nuggets have been mired around .500 for most of this season, in large part because two of their top players, Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr., have been injured.It’s too bad, because when Jokic is on the floor, the Nuggets are among the best teams in the N.B.A. statistically. When he’s not, they’re among the worst on both ends of the floor. It’s difficult to be more valuable than that. More

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      Nikola Jokic Ejected After Shoving Markieff Morris

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      Jokic, the Denver Nuggets star who is the reigning league MVP, was responding to a hard foul by Morris, who was also ejected.Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets, the reigning N.B.A. most valuable player, was ejected from a game against the Miami Heat on Monday night after shoving Markieff Morris to the floor. Morris was also ejected for precipitating the incident with a hard foul of his own.The fouls are the kind that often invite suspensions from the league but no action has been taken. With less than two minutes to go in a 113-96 victory for the Nuggets in Denver, Morris barged firmly into Jokic as he was making a pass.Jokic responded by giving Morris a forearm to the back, sending him to the floor. The incident prompted the gathering of a scrum of disputatious players and team personnel at center court that eventually broke up without serious incident.Morris remained down for several minutes, and a stretcher was brought out, but he left the floor under his own power. The team said he had a neck injury.“He’s moving around in the locker room right now,” Heat Coach Eric Spoelstra said after the game. “We’ll do the necessary tests and do what we need to do make sure he’s OK.”With both players were ejected, Jimmy Butler of the Heat got a technical foul after shouting at Jokic on the Denver bench.“It’s a stupid play,” Jokic told reporters after the game. “I feel bad. I am not supposed to react that way, but I need to protect myself.”Morris was unavailable for comment after the game. “That was a very dangerous and dirty play,” Spoelstra told reporters of Jokic’s shove. “That’s just absolutely uncalled for.”Jokic had 25 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists in the game for his first triple double of the season. He is in the top 20 in all three categories this season as well as steals, and is an early candidate to repeat as MVP.Jokic has made his share of aggressive, and over-aggressive, plays in his career. In Game 4 of last season’s conference semifinals against the Suns, he smacked Cameron Payne across the face when going for the ball. He was ejected, and the Nuggets went on to lose to the Suns, who completed a four-game sweep. Jokic had 10 technical fouls last season, ranking him 11th in the league.The Nuggets improved to 6-4 on Monday night. The Heat, with Butler continuing his late-career renaissance at 25 points per game, are 7-3. More

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      Denver’s Nikola Jokic Wins N.B.A.’s Most Valuable Player Award

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      Jokic set career highs in points, rebounds and assists, and kept the Nuggets afloat after Jamal Murray, their second-leading scorer, went down with a knee injury.Nikola Jokic was an afterthought in 2014. A pudgy center from Serbia, he was a role player for a club in the Adriatic League when the Denver Nuggets took a low-risk gamble in the second round of the N.B.A. draft and selected him with the 41st pick — then promptly stashed him in Europe for another season. There was no guarantee that he would ever appear in an N.B.A. uniform.On Tuesday, Jokic reached the pinnacle of individual achievement by winning the N.B.A.’s Most Valuable Player Award.Basketball is a global game, and Jokic, 26, who had an exceptional season for the Nuggets, became the second straight foreign-born player to win the award after Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is from Greece, won the last two.Jokic, whose Nuggets trail the Phoenix Suns 1-0 in a Western Conference semifinals series, set career-bests in the regular season by averaging 26.4 points, 10.8 rebounds and 8.3 assists per game.In an interview with TNT, Jokic said he “didn’t even think I would be in the N.B.A.” after he had begun to play the sport in his native Serbia. He credited his rise to “a lot of luck” and the trust he received from various coaches and the Nuggets as he developed. “And I put some work, too,” Jokic said.“I think this was my best season of my life and the cherry on the top is probably the trophy that I got,” Jokic said.Despite his industrial-size bulk at 6 feet 11 inches tall and 284 pounds, Jokic is a nimble, multidimensional player who can shoot from the outside, bang in the paint and pass with flair. His ability to operate at the high post and one-handedly sling passes to cutting teammates opens the floor and causes mayhem for defenders. During the regular season, he shot 56.6 percent from the field and 38.8 percent from 3-point range.“He’s what basketball players should look like in the future,” Ognjen Stojakovic, the Nuggets’ director of player development, said in a recent interview. “‘If I need to shoot it, shoot it. If I need to dribble, dribble. If I need to post up, I will post up because I am capable of doing everything.’ That is modern basketball.”Jokic received 91 of the 101 first-place votes and had 971 total points, with 10 points awarded for each first-place vote. Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid, who is from Cameroon, finished second in the voting with 586 points after averaging 28.5 points and 10.6 rebounds per game for the East-leading 76ers.Golden State’s Stephen Curry, who won back-to-back M.V.P. awards in 2015 and 2016, finished third in the voting. Curry, who led the league in scoring and dragged a depleted team to the brink of a playoff berth, had the second-most first-place votes with five. Antetokounmpo finished fourth. Members of the news media vote for the award, but The New York Times does not participate.The race was, in some ways, a battle of attrition in a disjointed season that was marred by a host of injuries and coronavirus-related absences. LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers was a front-runner to win the award for a fifth time — and for the first time since 2013 — before he sprained his ankle in March and missed 26 games. Embiid was also sidelined for about three weeks with a bone bruise in his left knee.Jokic, on the other hand, was an ironman, appearing in all 72 of his team’s games, and he kept the Nuggets afloat after Jamal Murray, their starting point guard and second-leading scorer, tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in April. Without Murray, the Nuggets closed the season as the No. 3 seed in the West by winning 13 of 18 games as Jokic shouldered even more responsibility.When Jokic joined the Nuggets as a rookie ahead of the 2015-16 season, he was fresh off his first M.V.P. campaign — in the Adriatic League. It did not take long for his coaches in Denver to recognize his versatility. They encouraged him to do what he does best, which is a bit of everything.“If you have a chef and you put him in McDonald’s flipping burgers, he will feel terrible,” Stojakovic said. “But if you give him a chance to be a chef and create, he can do his magic.”Calvin Booth, the team’s general manager, recalled joining the Nuggets’ front office before the start of the 2017-18 season. Jokic was beginning to establish himself as a young player full of promise, and Booth had seen clips and highlights of his handiwork. But Booth found that being around Jokic every day was a different experience altogether.“I knew he was good,” Booth said, “but I didn’t know he was that good.”Among his peers this season, Jokic was deemed the very best.Marc Stein More