From a botched pre-game warmup in slides to an overall poor effort in a loss, there wasn’t much to like from the Denver Nuggets on Saturday night in Los Angeles. Leave it to Nikola Jokic to give everyone one absolutely amazing highlight anyway. (Note: LeBron James had his own non-challenge call issues to deal with.)
As Denver tried mounting a second-half comeback, Nuggets shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope lofted an overhead pass to Jokic in transition. The only problem was that Jokic never really turned his head around, and he didn’t seem to know where the ball actually was. But Jokic knew that forward Michael Porter Jr. was streaking toward the rim, so as soon as he saw the ball land in front of him, he simply patted it over to Porter for the easy dunk.
At no risk of hyperbole, it’s one of the most ridiculous touch passes you’ll likely ever see in any NBA game:
I mean, my goodness. We already knew this, but Jokic’s on-court awareness and creativity are just incredible. I’ve never seen a pass like that. He literally shrugs in confusion before the ball even arrives!
This close-up angle courtesy of the Nuggets somehow makes Jokic’s pass even better:
Watching Jokic play basketball is akin to poetry. The all-time great is the definition of a free-flowing player who innately understands what the right play always is. And that sort of play style lends itself to these ridiculous off-the-cuff passes no one could possibly defend.
Featured image courtesy of Denver Nuggets
