OKLAHOMA CITY – The noise inside Paycom Center assaults the senses. Thunder rolls. Thunder strikes.
In the middle of it stands Nikola Jokic, the man with scratches on his arms and fury in his belly. He turned Loud City into OK City. Ho-hum. Shrugged shoulders. Can Shai Gilgeous-Alexander MVP voters hear him now?
In their most important moment since winning a championship, it took the Nuggets all of Game 1 to dispatch the NBA’s best team. Aaron Gordon delivered the improbable 121-119 victory over the Thunder with a 25-foot jump shot with three seconds remaining.
But it was Jokic who refused to let his team lose. He let everyone know it, and the Thunder, whose late-game fouling strategy backfired, will be hearing it about until Wednesday’s tip-off.
We have witnessed Monday’s brilliance from Jokic before, though this performance came with an accompanying historical footnote: He became the first player since Shaquille O’Neal in 2000 with 40-plus points and 22-plus rebounds in a playoff game.
But we have never seen this side of him.
It’s all coming out, the wisdom, the anger, the frustration. He is directing teammates during timeouts, on switches, through picks, during inbounds plays.
He is becoming a maestro with his mouth.
“We have shown resiliency since what happened with three games to go in the season. Nikola has been extremely vocal since that,” backup center DeAndre Jordan explained outside the locker room about Jokic’s evolution since the firing of coach Michael Malone and general manager Calvin Booth.
“He knows he has to step it up more with his voice. His play speaks for itself. But his leadership has grown stronger. He hardly ever (bleeping) talked. So when he does now, guys listen and are engaged.”
Nikola Jokic (15) of the Denver Nuggets defends an inbound pass by Alex Caruso (9) of the Oklahoma City Thunder during the fourth quarter of the Nuggets’ 121-119 win at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on Monday, May 5, 2025. The Nuggets took a 1-0 Western Conference semifinal lead with their win. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)Related Articles
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He made a strong case for an ejection, nearly executing a heel turn the likes we haven’t seen since Hollywood Hogan. With 6:24 remaining in the third, Jokic ran down the court flanked by Chet Holmgren. He shoved OKC’s big man. And when Holmgren hooked his elbow, Jokic responded with a forearm shiver that conjured images of his blasting of Miami’s Markieff Morris a few years ago.
A review kept it as a common foul. That ruling grew in significance after Jokic elbowed Lu Dort in the head. It was upgraded to a flagrant 1, so if the previous infraction had been labeled as such, Jokic would have been tossed.
Instead, he kept playing at his pace, ignoring voters who will name Gilgeous-Alexander MVP this month and responding to surly fans chanting “free throw merchant” as he sank 10 of 13 from the charity stripe.
“To be honest, I didn’t hear that,” said Jokic of the derisive critique previously directed at Gilgeous-Alexander this season. “That’s kind of funny.”
Not long after his bump-and-run with Holmgren, the Nuggets trailed by 14 points. When he sharpened a No. 2 pencil on Dort’s skull, the Nuggets sat 13 back with 6:39 left.
There was no way they were winning this game. OKC was 56-5 when leading at halftime this season. They held a nine-point lead with 3 minutes remaining.
Jokic, though, was tireless, inevitable. His energy drink, available in the metro area, includes guarana extract, taurine, caffeine and, apparently, venom. He scored 11 of the Nuggets’ final 17 points, besting Gilgeous-Alexander 18-13 in the fourth quarter.
Jokic exerted his will. Yet he never lost his way as he lost his mind over questionable calls. Boos cascaded down as he complained, accompanied by interim coach David Adelman’s symphony of seething at the refs. Jokic’s face reddened, but his pulse did not race.
“I played in Serbia in small gyms with 30 people, and you could hear everything they said. Sometimes I think that’s worse because you can see the guy who’s yelling at you,” Jokic said. “And I have played in front of a lot of people with the national team in other countries. I don’t want to say I don’t get distracted. …”
But he doesn’t. It is a rare skill, the ability to bring water to a boil without any drops escaping over the edge of the pot. His teammates see it. And now, his passion and edge have a soundtrack.
“I think that’s him. I think that’s who he wants to be,” guard Christian Braun said. “Obviously, he has the best mind in basketball, maybe ever. When he is yelling things a lot of times, it is hard to understand. But when he’s telling us something, it’s not motivational. It’s, ‘We need to do this, we need to guard this way.’ Most of it is defensive stuff, not offense, and people don’t realize that. He’s the guy who just wants to win so badly.”
Afterward, Jokic dismissed stealing home court from the Thunder in the opener on a single day’s rest. No big deal. It was one game. And it was a game of runs. It was about the team sticking together, and Gordon sinking his second game-winner this postseason.
No chance he gets off that easily.
Monday was a statement of Jokic’s greatness. And we heard it above the 115-decibel crowd noise. Loud and clear.
“He is the best player in the world,” guard Russell Westbrook said. “Plain and simple.”
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