Nikola Jokic’s latest jaw-dropping pass went over his head like a bad joke.
In the last minute of the first half Friday, Jokic received the ball in the center of the lane from Jamal Murray. As Jonas Valanciunas and Zion Williamson both closed out on him, he turned, facing his back to the basket, and flung the ball blindly over his head.
There was Aaron Gordon, slipping to the rim from the dunker spot. The pass threaded the needle magically between Valanciunas and Williamson. Gordon had an uncontested dunk.
After the Nuggets finished off a 125-113 win over the Pelicans, Gordon said he told Jokic: “When they’re inducting him into the Hall of Fame, that’s one of the passes that they’re gonna play. And I’ll be like, ‘Hey, there I am, too.’”
“He’s always there,” Jokic said. “I just need to pass it.”
Hilarious player pic.twitter.com/25sOIYtMGm
— Christian Clark (@cclark_13) January 13, 2024
Jokic has registered a triple-double in each of his last five games against New Orleans, and his passing has been the highlight. In those five games, he has averaged 27.8 points, 13.8 rebounds and 13.8 assists, including an 18-assist outing earlier this season to tie his career high.
The over-the-head dime to Gordon had the Nuggets buzzing even more than most of Jokic’s finest assists, though.
“That was sick,” Peyton Watson told The Denver Post “You know Jok. He saw (Gordon) before he was even open. As soon as (Williamson) stepped up, he just turned around and threw it over his head. It sucks that we get used to stuff like that, because he’s so great. But we are. We’re spoiled, man.”
“Just like guys that can routinely make really tough shots, or things like that, we’ve grown accustomed to knowing that Nikola pretty much has eyes on the back of his head,” Michael Porter Jr. said.
In this case, eyes on the back of Jokic’s head didn’t matter as much as fundamental execution of a plan. The Nuggets were running a familiar action: The coaching staff had drawn it up for a rolling Jokic to receive a pocket pass from Murray, then for Gordon to work behind the defense from the dunker spot. “The way they defend, we knew they were gonna step up,” coach Michael Malone said.
What Malone didn’t anticipate as part of the play’s design was the panache with which Jokic completed it.
“When you’re a young kid and you’re watching NBA basketball, that’s Magic Johnson. That’s Pistol Pete Maravich,” Malone said. “The guys that just had this pizazz to their game. Nikola can beat you a lot of ways, and that was definitely one of the best passes I’ve seen him make.”
Jokic, on the other hand, was ho hum about it. He said he doesn’t have time to think about his assists in the moment because play is continuing, and he pointed out that he once had a similar pass to Gordon.
“I did the exact same thing against Indiana. The exact same pass,” he said. “I just saw (Gordon) in the blink of an eye, and I wanted to pass it to him as quick as I can. I think he was open in that moment, not a moment after, so that was the quickest way to get him the ball.”
Whether or not this was a copycat pass or a Hall of Fame induction highlight, though, the Nuggets’ locker room consensus remains that his latest gem doesn’t steal the title of Jokic Pass of the Season.
“I think his best one this year still is the one-handed pass in Memphis to A.G. for the lob,” Watson said. “That was ridiculous. But he does something amazing every night, so stuff gets lost. When we season-recap, we’ll figure out how to rank it.”