After being dropped into an 0-2 gap by the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Denver Nuggets received some excellent news this week. On Wednesday, the NBA introduced that middle Nikola Jokic had gained his third NBA MVP award.
“I simply need to thank my teammates, with out them, I’m nothing… I can’t be who I’m with out them. There have been lots of gamers that deserved it,” Jokic mentioned after being named MVP for the third time, per CBS Sports activities’ Kasey Richardson.
Jokic has taken house the award in three of the final 4 seasons. Following a lackluster taking pictures evening in Recreation 2 the place Jokic made simply 5 of 13 area objectives, the strain of a must-win Recreation 3 was already mounting.
Now, that strain simply elevated with the Nuggets chief successful one other league MVP. All eyes might be on Jokic in Minnesota on Friday, and he’ll be anticipated greater than ever to steer the cost in turning this sequence round.
A loss to the Timberwolves Friday places the defending champions in a spot no crew in NBA historical past has been in a position to climb out of. Falling behind 2-0 isn’t promising, however no crew has ever come again from a 3-0 sequence deficit. It’s occurred 154 occasions, and the crew on high has at all times superior.
We’ve seen groups come again from 3-1 deficits, however they weren’t down 3-0 in these situations. Golden State rebounded from 3-1 to beat the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder within the 2016 Western Convention Finals. That very same Warriors crew then proceeded to surrender a 3-1 result in the Cleveland Cavaliers within the NBA Finals that very same yr.
Whereas Jokic has achieved one thing nice that locations him amongst NBA royalty, the Nuggets want him to play prefer it in Recreation 3 on the street or their title protection might be ending quickly.
