Milwaukee Bucks: Takeaways from 134-123 loss to Denver Nuggets

The Joker can’t be stopped

Nikola Jokic produced a performance for the ages on Thursday night in Milwaukee, as he’s made a habit of saving some of his best play for matchups with the Bucks.

Jokic racked up a triple-double in an NBA record of just over 14 minutes, marking the third straight game against the Bucks that has finished with a triple-double for the Serbian center.

The 22-year-old has the kind of physical frame that inevitably causes the Bucks problems, yet he hardly leaned on that advantage at all, instead opting to thoroughly dismantle the Bucks in a variety of ways across the floor.

Put simply there’s no other center in the NBA today quite like Jokic. Thursday marked a nightmarish defensive performance for a Bucks team that has been the best in the league in that department since Joe Prunty took over as interim head coach, and Jokic was the orchestrator behind all of it.

Denver move the ball well as a team, but on Thursday, Jokic took that up an extra gear. The former second round pick has incredible vision, meaning that sending double teams his way only results in him finding wide open teammates with even better scoring opportunities.

The thin framed Thon Maker had played well of late for the Bucks, but was effectively mauled in this matchup, providing no real answer to anything Jokic threw at him.

All in all, Jokic finished with a remarkable line of 30 points, 17 assists, 15 rebounds and two blocks, while shooting 11-of-14 from the field, 3-of-3 from deep, and 5-of-5 from the free throw line.