"Nikola Jokic Unleashes Triple-Double fury to Power Nuggets to Game 1 Victory Over Lakers"
Nikola Jokic is making the Western Conference Finals his own personal playground. The Denver Nuggets star point-forward showed up with a dominant performance in Game 1 and his triple-double, while leading Denver to a 132-126 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.
"He makes it [look] really simple," teammate Aaron Gordon said. "He makes it look miraculous at the same time. It's like ridiculous." Jokic had 34 points, 21 rebounds, 14 assists and two blocks and was aggressive from the start, putting the ball on the floor and driving to the basket against Anthony Davis and other Lakers defenders. He even managed to dunk on Davis!
Jokic was just as ferocious on the glass, grabbing six offensive rebounds in the first quarter alone and outrebounding the entire Lakers team 16-13 by halftime. His 28-foot step-back 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter drew a smile from Davis and a shrug from Jokic himself: "Oh, sometimes luck is on our side...it's not something that I work on, but I'm glad it went in." Jokic now has three straight triple-doubles in the postseason, proving he can be a force when he's on the court.