Jokic a ‘dunking machine’
Star center had surging Nuggets buzzing after rout of Bucks
Phi Slama Joker, he ain’t. But who needs the Sombor Shuffle when Nikola Jokic is throwing down Sombor Stuffs left and right?
“I think that they’re all making fun of me when I dunk, to be honest,” the Nuggets center said with a sly grin after being asked about his three jams that punctuated a 128-97 rout of the Bucks in Milwaukee.
“Actually, (Nuggets head strength-and-conditioning coach) Felipe (Eichenberger) is the one who gets excited. For real.”
The Joker had the entire Nuggets bench — and Denver fans — buzzing after the Big Honey notched his 50th career regular-season triple-double late Tuesday night: 37 points, 10 rebounds, 11 assists during a demonstrative stomping of a division leader.
Hey, packing stat lines like Wilt Chamberlain or Oscar Rober tson is becoming old hat for the burly Serbian. But flashing that much hang time against a solid Bucks defense? On the road?
That was new.
“I don’t char t or follow how many dunks we have, or he has,” offered Nuggets coach Michael Malone, whose squad wraps up a four-game road swing at Indiana on Thursday night. “But (Jokic) has been a dunking machine as of late.”
Basketball-reference.com actually does chart that very thing, among a myriad of other data. And according to the site’s database, Jokic came out of Wisconsin with 20 dunks on the season through 35 games, second on the roster to Michael Por ter Jr.’s 22.
The flip side?
Among the 10 Nuggets who’d averaged at least 15 minutes per game heading into Milwaukee, the Joker ranked just sixth on the squad in terms of dunks per field-goal attempt (.027).
Air Jokic? Not quite. But the Big Honey’s new experiments in skywalking aren’t figments of your imagination, either.
Jokic was credited by Basketball-reference with only 15 dunks during the 2019-20 regular season in 73 appearances. His dunkto-field-goal ratio was an anemic .014 — PJ Dozier (.006 in 2019-20) and Monte Morris (.002) territory. The Joker logged just 11 slams in 2018-19, with a ratio of .009.
The Nuggets All-star is only four regular-season dunks away from setting a single-season personal high, and in far fewer games. Jokic dropped 23 slams over 73 appearances in 2016-17, his second season in the league. The burly Serbian averaged 13.6 stuf fs over his first five years with the Nuggets.
It’s all another reminder of how Jokic’s conditioning has paid of f this winter, with the leaner Big Honey flashing athleticism that’s impressed even some teammates.