5 Key Points: Nuggets bounce back in OKC with Nikola Jokić's MVP-caliber showing

When faced with adversity and defeat in Oklahoma City, how do you choose to react?

For the Denver Nuggets and Nikola Jokić and his Kia NBA MVP chances, there was a collective and emphatic “not yet” Monday that transformed into the most impressive performance of the season, everything considered.

They unified to punish Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the West-leading Thunder by double-digits. That rarely happens. They dropped 140 points on the league’s best defense. That never happens.

And Jokić? Well, this was a bad night for the Shai-in-a-runaway crowd with regard to the MVP, because Jokić demonstrated how he’s the best player in the league at the very least. Which counts for something in the MVP conversation.

Whether it results in him winning a fourth MVP remains to be seen. There are roughly four weeks to decide that. In the meantime, he and the Nuggets left town with a split of back-to-back road games and an even greater appreciation for the dominance and durability of Jokić.

“To go 2-2 (overall this season) against the No. 1 seed in the West, I couldn’t be more proud,” said Nuggets coach Michael Malone.

Here are five takeaways from the Nuggets’ 140-127 victory and yet another smashing performance by Jokić:

1. Jokić fights through discomfort and delivers it instead

This was another masterclass by Jokić, made more impressive by being the second of a back-to-back which did no favors for a bum right elbow that caused issues in Sunday’s loss.

Normally in these situations, a player would rest, particularly if he means as much as Jokić does to Denver.

“I went to him after the game yesterday, told him to take tomorrow’s game off,” said Malone. “He was like, ‘Hell no, c’mon man, coach I’m playing. Am I tired? Sure, everybody’s tired. Am I beat up? Everybody’s beat up. I want to play.’

“I think part of that was we lost (Sunday) and he wanted to find a way to get a win today. The guy’s incredible, he’s a machine. We are watching greatness every single night.”

And that has to count for something. Jokić played 41 minutes Sunday in a noon local tipoff (also losing an hour for daylight saving’s time) and dragging that elbow the last three quarters. And this was less than two days removed from an overtime game back home — the epic 30-20-20 game.

Then Monday he follows up with 40 minutes; how many players, even healthy, sign up for that workload in today’s era? Even more impressive, Jokić missed only five of 20 shots Monday, which is more in line with the efficiency he has shown this season, and had 35 points, 18 rebounds and eight assists.

The energy, effort, competitive desire and determination conspired to conquer anything OKC threw his way. This was an MVP response.

2. Support shows up

The Nuggets had every reason to crumble Monday and yet the opposite happened.

They were missing Aaron Gordon, and ran out of gas in the fourth quarter the night before, and there was the elbow injury with Jokić. And what happens? Three-point shots fall, defense rises and the margin of victory expands. This was a hurricane OKC surely didn’t see coming, and certainly never felt from another team this season.

Jamal Murray, much maligned for failing to give Jokić consistent help this season, scored 34 points and made half his 22 shots. Michael Porter Jr. added 17. Peyton Watson came off the bench with 16. Russell Westbrook matched that total while inserted as a starter.

The Nuggets shot 56% from deep and 60% overall — very uncharacteristic for them and also for an OKC opponent this season.

“Team effort,” said Porter. “We know we can play this way, and against a team as good as them, you don’t have much of a choice.”

3. Shai is silent (for him)

The follow-up by Shai from Sunday was rather quiet, especially by his high standards. This was one of the few games where he didn’t meet the challenge — again, by his standards.

He had 25 points, seven below his league-leading average, and none particularly damaging. Mainly, though, he took only 14 shots, after 32 attempts Sunday, and went to the free throw line just six times. All credit to the Nuggets’ defense, problematic all season but choosing the right time to turn elite.

Christian Braun had the chore of being the first line of defense against Shai. “I had to do a better job (than Sunday),” he said. “It’s not easy against him.”

Malone explained the strategy this way: “The way to defend a great player is to deny him the ball. And when he gets the ball it’s to try to take it out of his hands.”

When they did, Lu Dort made them pay for leaving him open (8-for-14 from deep). The payoff was worth it.

“Obviously you live with some of those other guys making 3s,” Malone said. “You have your base defense and your great-player defense. You can’t guard great players with your base defense.”

4. The MVP race rages on

A Sunday-Monday split between the Nuggets and Thunder also felt like a draw between the Joker and Shai. It should be one of the closest MVP races in recent seasons. Whether it turns out that way will be decided over the last month.

Both players coyly admitted that, yes, they want the award — and why not? Even Jokić broke out of character and admitted: “This is my third or fourth year in a row (as a contender) so I can’t control (the vote). I will say I think I’m playing the best basketball of my life, so if that’s enough, it’s enough. If not, the guy deserves it. He’s really amazing.”

Malone offered up a reasonable and fair assessment of where it stands:

“As we wind down this season this MVP thing’s going to pick up. Shai is a great player and if he wins his first MVP, he deserves it. My thing is this: If you didn’t know Nikola won three MVPs and the guy’s now averaging a triple-double and is top three in the league in three categories, then he wins MVP 10 times out of 10. If you don’t think so, I think that’s BS.

“If (Shai) wins I’ll clap my hands and be happy for him. He’s good for the game. I’m just supporting my guy. When you look at it from a historical perspective, he’s doing things that have never been done.”

5. Which brings us to the winning factor

How much weight should be placed on the team record of the MVP candidate? The league doesn’t attach stipulations to the award ballot, so everything is left up to interpretation and so-called unwritten rules and anything else the voter deems important.

The most discussed and debated of those “rules” is team record and the edge it should give a candidate over another, especially in a close race. It’s “so-and-so’s team has the better record and therefore it’s him” media narrative.

“If you want to use that card, I’m all for it,” said Malone. “But the one year Nikola didn’t win it, we had best record. It’s different for everybody. And we’re the No. 2 team in the West. It’s not like we’re on the outside looking in.”

Winning matters for this award, without a doubt; the “valuable” is directly tied to the impact the player has on winning. But since the media began voting on the award starting with the 1980-81 season, they haven’t always followed the best-record law.

The totals so far: 26 winners had best record or tied for best record in the league, 18 didn’t. That’s a higher ratio than the media would have you believe. Now, some context: In some cases the winner had a better record than the MVP runner-up, just not the best record in the league.

Still, Moses Malone won the 1982 MVP with the eighth-best record. Michael Jordan’s first MVP was secured with the seventh-best. And the Nuggets never had best record in any of Jokić’s three MVP seasons.

This season, with OKC running away with the West — the lead is 11 games on Denver — winning suddenly matters heavily. There’s the perception the margin of the lead gives Shai an advantage over Jokić, who in fairness once again doesn’t have the luxury of an All-Star or All-Defensive teammate to help him … win more.

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Shaun Powell has covered the NBA for more than 25 years. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on X.

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