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NBA poll: Nikola Jokic now the leading candidate to win MVP

HoopsHype
·7 min read
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As the 2021-22 regular season winds down, it appears Jokic has the inside track to repeat. After Jokic finished just behind Embiid in the previous edition in mid-February, the four-time All-Star claimed 62 of 100 first-place votes in the third and final iteration of ESPN’s MVP straw poll, giving Jokic a clear — though narrow — lead over Embiid and Milwaukee Bucks forward and most recent back-to-back MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Source: Tim Bontemps @ ESPN

What’s the buzz on Twitter?

Justin Kubatko @jkubatko
Nikola Jokic last night:
✅ 26 PTS
✅ 19 REB
✅ 11 AST
It’s the seventh time Jokic has recorded at least 20p/15r/10a in a game this season, one more such game than all other players combined. pic.twitter.com/xpjRiYNKTG – 9:01 AM

Adam Zagoria @AdamZagoria
.⁦@Tim Bontemps⁩ straw poll of 100 voters has Nikola Jokic beating out Joel Embiid for NBA MVP honors pic.twitter.com/WZkhntTgfb – 7:45 AM

Christos Tsaltas @Tsaltas46
The Nuggets put another important win in the book. They beat the Hornets on the road showing character at the crunch time. “We feel comfortable in close games. Today we were really good”, Nikola Jokic said after his 19th triple-double. #MileHighBasketball
sdna.gr/mpasket/949165… – 4:01 AM

Micah Adams @MicahAdams13
Another classic Jokic game.
Nuggets with him off floor…
13 minutes
67.9 offensive rating
124.1 defensive rating
-56.3 net rating
Nuggets with him on floor…
35 minutes
127.0 offensive rating
100.0 defensive rating
+27.0 net rating
Without him they get blow out by Charlotte. – 11:09 PM

Ryan Blackburn @NBABlackburn
Final rotations for the Nuggets as they beat the Hornets 113-109.
-Joker with 26-19-11 and 2 steals, +21, just overwhelmed the Hornets and Plumlee
-AG with 21 points, 17 in the first quarter
-Barton with 18 points and some big shots but some really bad mistakes thru out pic.twitter.com/YEDfTOlwBT – 9:38 PM

StatMuse @statmuse
Nikola Jokic in March:
29.4 PPG
12.7 RPG
7.9 APG
61.3 FG%
The Nuggets are 1.5 games back from 4th in the West. pic.twitter.com/2vy7EmyjZe – 9:38 PM

Vinny Benedetto @VBenedetto
“It depends on the day,” Nikola Jokic when asked about his facial hair postgame. Can relate. – 9:37 PM

Gordon Gross @GMoneyNuggs
Jokic paving his way to victory from the charity stripe after an iffy (for him) shooting performance was exactly the kind of grit I’d expect. Only Jokic can put up 26 / 19 / 11 on 17 shot and have me saying it wasn’t his best performance. Good win again a team that wanted it. – 9:36 PM

Harrison Wind @HarrisonWind
Nikola Jokic tonight in Charlotte: 26 points, 19 rebounds, 11 assists, 2 steals, +21 in his 35 minutes. Nuggets win 113-109 and inch closer to the 6th seed. – 9:34 PM

Adam Mares @Adam_Mares
26-19-11 for Jokic.
Nuggets set a new franchise record for most wins in a season on the road.
It was an ugly win but a big win. – 9:34 PM

Michael Singer @msinger
#Nuggets escape with a 113-109 win over Charlotte. They’ve now got a 2.0 game cushion over Minnesota with six games left.
Joker with 26 points, 19 rebounds (!) and 11 assists. – 9:34 PM

James Plowright @British_Buzz
Jokic has 25 points 20 rebounds 11 assists and I’m surprised his line isn’t even better, MVP for me – 9:33 PM

StatMuse @statmuse
Nikola Jokic tonight:
26 PTS
19 REB
11 AST
It’s his 76th career triple-double. Only 2 away from Wilt’s record for a center. pic.twitter.com/tY8jNd3mZi – 9:33 PM

Gordon Gross @GMoneyNuggs
I have to assume Jokic’s hand/wrist is bothering him – his free throw stroke and touch around the hoop is just off today. Still has a monster triple-double anyway, but it means some crucial shots down the stretch may have to be made by others. – 9:19 PM

Gordon Gross @GMoneyNuggs
Charlotte announcers declare Vlade Divac the no-doubt best player ever out of Serbia “right now” and I feel like that’s their first major misstep of the game. Jokic would probably agree with them though. – 9:15 PM

Harrison Wind @HarrisonWind
Nikola Jokic is now two triple-doubles away from tying Wilt Chamberlain for the 6th most in NBA history. 17 points, 15 rebounds, 11 assists for Jokic tonight in 29 minutes so far. Nuggets have outscored the Hornets by 20 points with him on the floor. – 8:55 PM

James Plowright @British_Buzz
That big delay of game did give Jokic a rest without needing to take him out the game, maybe it wasn’t such a good thing after all – 8:48 PM

Ryan Blackburn @NBABlackburn
Harrell’s gonna start stuff.
Joker’s gonna end it. – 8:39 PM

Michael Singer @msinger
That’s Nikola Jokic’s NBA leading 19th triple-double of the season.
He’s got 16 points, 15 rebounds and 10 dimes. – 8:36 PM

Michael Singer @msinger
Nikola Jokic’s whip pass to Austin Rivers in the corner drew audible gasps from the Hornets’ home crowd. – 8:35 PM

Gordon Gross @GMoneyNuggs
Charlotte announcers: “That ball has to touch Jokic’s hands just about every possession for something to happen.”
Nuggets fans: yes, we know. – 8:31 PM

Harrison Wind @HarrisonWind
Nikola Jokic sat for five minutes that half. Nuggets made zero field goals and scored a grand total of three points (3 Bones Hyland FT’s) in those five minutes. – 8:14 PM

Duvalier Johnson @DuvalierJohnson
Nuggets trail Charlotte 57-56 at the half.
Gordon got Denver going as he has 19 points.
Barton & Jeff Green have 9 apiece and Jokic has an awkward line of 6 pts, 7 ast, 10 rebs
Bench for Charlotte has been the difference.
If you’re Malone, what’s your message to the team? – 8:13 PM

Adam Mares @Adam_Mares
Starters can be better and they’ll need Jokic (6pts/10rebs/7ast) to become more aggressive.
But the bench can’t get beat as bad as they did in that half. They should have an advantage against CHA’s bench but got killed in their minutes. – 8:13 PM

Ryan Blackburn @NBABlackburn
Halftime rotations for the Nuggets as they trail the Hornets 57-56:
-Joker shooting badly, but he has 10 rebounds and 7 assists
-16 fast break points got Denver back in this one
-Bench was horrible. Just horrible
-Barton…there are good flashes outweighed by horrendous choices pic.twitter.com/LkQXCEvqAy – 8:12 PM

Jeff Eisenband @JeffEisenband
This was tough, but I’m confident in my picks. Put Jokic on 1st Team over Luka because of the MVP.
Ran the stats between Peja, Kukoc and Detlef Schrempf and Peja narrowly grabbed the last 2nd team spot. #NBA75EuroVote https://t.co/xeI0aGZLpb pic.twitter.com/gn1M8eOVsL – 5:56 PM

Harrison Wind @HarrisonWind
Here’s a current argument against Nikola Jokic for MVP: “Even though Jokic is a fantastic player, what he’s done, there’s no story. He’s not interesting. He’s carried them, but he always sort of carries them…” pic.twitter.com/KJ1P6wcZjb – 4:55 PM

StatMuse @statmuse
Players in the top 10 in PPG, RPG, APG in a season:
Wilt Chamberlain
Elgin Baylor
Oscar Robertson
Russell Westbrook
Nikola Jokic
(h/t @Bill Simmons) pic.twitter.com/egsl4f0UQt – 10:34 AM

More on this storyline

Jokic finished ahead of the pack with those 62 first-place votes and a total of 860 points, followed by Embiid, who had 29 first-place votes and 719 total points, and Antetokounmpo, who had nine first-place votes and 593 total points. They were the only players to be named to all 100 ballots and the only ones to receive a first-place vote. -via ESPN / March 29, 2022

“For the second straight year, Joel has played at an elite, MVP-level,” one NBA executive told HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto. “He continues to put up Wilt Chamberlain-like numbers and has emerged as one of the most versatile big men this league has ever seen. He impacts the game on both ends of the floor like few in this game can. To me, there’s no doubt he is the 2021-22 NBA MVP.” -via HoopsHype / March 29, 2022

Ja Morant: it was once you couldn’t be a certain seed and win MVP but looks like that has changed . 🤷🏽‍♂️ wasn’t gon speak on this but it’s obvious it’s whoever they want . -via Twitter @JaMorant / March 26, 2022