Nikola Jokic produced another triple-double on Friday night, finishing with 18 points, 18 rebounds and 10 assists in the Denver Nuggets' 113-97 win over the Memphis Grizzlies. With that, the Nuggets are now 25-0 this season when Jokic records a triple-double.
But for once, Jokic's mastery of the game was not the primary storyline of the night. Rather, it's the fact that the Nuggets have likely locked up the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference even though there's still five weeks remaining in the regular season.
"I don't think [about revenge from Denver's loss to Memphis last month]," Jokic said. "It was an important game to win, especially at home in front of the best fans. We needed to do that."
The Nuggets now have a six-game lead over the Grizzlies in the race for the one-seed. What's more, this win gave them the tiebreaker between the two teams, which means it's essentially a seven-game advantage. That would be a difficult deficit to overcome at any point in the season, but it's pretty much impossible with only 18 games remaining for the Nuggets and 20 left for the Grizzlies.
Even if the Grizzlies caught fire, which may be possible given their schedule the rest of the way, they'd need the 45-19 Nuggets to fall apart. And that, given the way Jokic is playing, seems extremely unlikely. Denver also has a manageable remaining schedule and only has three losing streaks all season: a two-gamer in November, a three-gamer in December and a two-gamer in January. There may be questions about whether they can win in the playoffs, but it's clear by now this team is built to excel in the regular season.
As for the postseason, it's still too early to know just about anything about the West seeding outside of the Nuggets' chances to be the No. 1 seed. The Nos. 4-8 seeds are separated by three games, while the Nos. 9-13 seeds are separated by an additional 1.5 games. Injuries and mid-season trades will add another wrinkle, as teams such as the Phoenix Suns and Golden State Warriors will be unconventional "low seeds."
But whatever path they may face, this is the Nuggets' best chance to win a title in a long time.
