It was a big man sort of week in the NBA as a pair of centers who should face off at the All Star Game in February took home player of the week awards. Joel Embiid put up almost 31 points, 16 rebounds and 3 assists as his Philadelphia 76ers went undefeated, and Nikola Jokic took his squad to 3-0 on the week also with 28 points, 13 rebounds and 9 assists per game, which is basically obscene.
The Denver Nuggets are going to need to put some parental advisories over Nikola’s stat lines soon. Any time you can topple James Harden with the games he’s having it means you’re doing something right, and Nikola is doing a lot of things right currently. This is his second player of the week award this year and fourth of his career, which gives him more than Marc Gasol, the same number as Jimmy Butler, and one fewer than Adrian Dantley (though that’s a bit unfair to Dantley).
When you have a week that draws favorable comparisons to stat lines from Michael Jordan and Larry Bird, though, you can have yourself an award and a pile of victories to go with it. Congratulations Nikola!
