There was much concern surrounding the Denver Nuggets when the Los Angeles Lakers, on Saturday night, turned up with a game plan that limited Nikola Jokic and forced his teammates to beat them. Nonetheless, there are only so many things an opposing team can do to slow down Jokic. On Monday night, Jokic was back to his usual dominant ways as he tallied 18 points, nine rebounds, and 19 assists in a 125-116 victory for the Nuggets over the Indiana Pacers.
Jokic remains the undisputed best player in the league, and the fact that the Lakers had to send multiple bodies at him away from the ball just to push him farther away from the basket is the biggest evidence proving as such. This time against the Pacers, the Nuggets maintained much better spacing, with Aaron Gordon feasting on the attention Jokic was drawing to lead the team in scoring with 25 points.
“He’s just so impressive, man. The way that he’s able to just be such a floor general at 7’2″? There’s not enough words to describe how good he is at basketball and how great he is at this game. He makes the game so much easier and he just makes everybody better around him,” Gordon told Katy Winge of Altitude Sports following the Nuggets’ victory.
Aaron Gordon on the Nuggets setting the tone for this road trip with this win, on his mentality lately, and on playing with a center that finishes with 19 assists.
Denver wins in Indiana 125-116. pic.twitter.com/qKToZVgmUO
— Katy Winge (@katywinge) February 25, 2025
Gordon has never been shy in professing his admiration for Jokic’s game, and why would he be? After all, the Nuggets forward finds the game so much easier when playing off of the reigning MVP — and perhaps the favorite to win the award again this season.
The Nuggets may not have the best record in the NBA, but there is nothing quite more valuable than someone who elevates everyone around him. And for Gordon, he must be thanking his lucky stars every single day that he gets to play alongside someone like Jokic.
Tough stretch awaits Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets
It was a good thing that the Nuggets were able to rack up plenty of wins prior to the All-Star break, as their schedule was only going to get much tougher from there. Their next nine games will be coming against teams with playoff aspirations, with only one of those teams having a sub-.500 record (Phoenix Suns).
They have the second-toughest remaining schedule in the league (only behind the Suns), and their final 24 games will be crucial in determining where they sit in the Western Conference standings heading into the postseason.
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