Nikola Jokic is now just three wins away from his very first NBA championship after he and the Denver Nuggets cruised to a 104-93 win in Game 1 against the Miami Heat.
The Serbian was in high spirits after the win, as when he was asked who he patterned his game after, he joked it was Shaquille O’Neal. Jokic then went on to reveal who he really modeled his game after.
“To be honest, back in Serbia, I didn’t follow the NBA that much,” Jokic said. “Dino (Radja), Peja (Stojakovic), and Vlade Divac because they were, and Drazen Petrovic, they were like the ones who first made the NBA, and opened the doors for every other, let’s say European players, or players from Ex Yugoslavia. But when I came here, it was Timmy Duncan, it was LaMarcus Aldridge, it was Boris Diaw, Dirk Nowitzki, those kind of guys.”
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The likes of Drazen Petrovic and Dino Radja did open the door for individuals like Jokic to walk through and deserve a lot of credit. When it comes to playing style, Boris Diaw is probably the closest thing we have seen to Jokic in the NBA.
Diaw was a versatile forward who was a very good passer for a man his size, with a career-high of 6.2 APG back in 2005-06 with the Phoenix Suns. Jokic is obviously a much better version of Diaw and is averaging 29.8 PPG, 13.1 RPG, 10.5 APG, 1.1 SPG, and 0.9 BPG in these playoffs. It is safe to say he has surpassed all the names he mentioned there, with the exception of Tim Duncan and Dirk Nowitzki.
Michael Malone Compared Nikola Jokic To Tim Duncan
What makes Jokic unique in today’s NBA, apart from his skillset, is also how he doesn’t really behave like most superstars. He is very humble and isn’t all that interested in the fame that comes with being such a big name in the league.
His head coach Michael Malone compared him to Duncan in the sense that he is a selfless superstar, as Duncan was for the San Antonio Spurs. Jokic himself once said he wants to be the Tim Duncan of the Nuggets, but added he has to win a couple of championships for that. It sure looks like he is going to get close to that goal of his this year.
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