After being dropped into an 0-2 hole by the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Denver Nuggets got some good news this week. On Wednesday, the NBA announced that center Nikola Jokic had won his third NBA MVP award.
“I just want to thank my teammates, without them, I am nothing… I cannot be who I am without them. There were a lot of players that deserved it,” Jokic said after being named MVP for the third time, per CBS Sports’ Kasey Richardson.
Jokic has taken home the award in three of the last four seasons. Following a lackluster shooting night in Game 2 where Jokic made just five of 13 field goals, the pressure of a must-win Game 3 was already mounting.
Now, that pressure just increased with the Nuggets leader winning another league MVP. All eyes will be on Jokic in Minnesota on Friday, and he’ll be expected more than ever to lead the charge in turning this series around.
A loss to the Timberwolves Friday puts the defending champions in a spot no team in NBA history has been able to climb out of. Falling behind 2-0 isn’t promising, but no team has ever come back from a 3-0 series deficit. It’s happened 154 times, and the team on top has always advanced.
We’ve seen teams come back from 3-1 deficits, but they weren’t down 3-0 in those instances. Golden State rebounded from 3-1 to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2016 Western Conference Finals. That same Warriors team then proceeded to give up a 3-1 lead to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals that same year.
While Jokic has achieved something great that places him among NBA royalty, the Nuggets need him to play like it in Game 3 on the road or their title defense will be ending soon.
