We just witnessed *the* seminal Jokic masterpiece (until the next one)

This is Nikola's era of NBA history until further notice.

Good morning. Let’s basketball.

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Painter of Sunflowers: Portrait of Vincent van Gogh; Paul Gaugin; 1888

What’s most remarkable about Nikola Jokic’s current level of dominance is that is imposed not through brute force of size, strength or athleticism, not through some impossible physical skill like shooting a ball 30 feet. Jokic imposes his will through pure creativity.

This is not to say that he isn’t huge (he is), strong (very) or athletic (athleticism is not simply jumping high or running fast). This is not say that Jokic doesn’t have some S-level physical skills (his shooting touch isn’t quite unprecedented, but it’s lightly precendented; his passing touch is all-timer stuff). Jokic has all of those elements. But the differentiator — the quality that makes Jokic Jokic — is the creativity.

You see it in the passing, the play-running, the post moves, the perimeter moves, the traffic direction of his teammates, the in-possession and in-game and in-series adjustments. You see it in his eyes and the eyes of his teammates and the eyes of his basketball victims.

Game 5 against the Minnesota Timberwolves is an original masterpiece from Jokic. Nikola is already a legend. This is somehow on another level given the stakes, the opponent and the situation.