Nikola Jokic After Playing 65 Minutes In Game 3: 'I'm Feeling Good'

[RealGM Wiretap]

Michael Malone said he apologized to Nikola Jokic after playing him 65 minutes in the Denver Nuggets' quadruple OT loss to the Portland Trail Blazers in game 3.

Jokic, who finished the game with a triple-double, played 64 minutes and 58 seconds. It was the most minutes any player has played in a playoff game in the shot-clock era.

"That's unheard of. That's ridiculous. I can't do that to him, that's too many minutes," said Malone.

Jokic added that he's in good basketball shape, having played 43 minutes and 58 seconds straight from halfway through the 4th quarter to getting taken out with 2.8 seconds left in the 4th overtime.  

"They were talking about I'm not in shape. I'm in really good shape. I don't know what they're talking about. Even when I came here [from Serbia] I was a little bit chubby. There's no difference even now. It's a basketball game. I'm feeling good," said Jokic.

Via Ohm Youngmisuk/ESPN

[Revived]

I’ve always thought the knock on Jokic being out of shape is silly. He’s a much better basketball player than 99% of the players in the league who are ripped and shredded. So who cares? This isn’t a modeling contest, it’s basketball.

Jokic actually uses his weight very well and I think he would actually be at least slightly worse off if he lose some of that weight.

[12footrim]

I’ve always thought the knock on Jokic being out of shape is silly. He’s a much better basketball player than 99% of the players in the league who are ripped and shredded. So who cares? This isn’t a modeling contest, it’s basketball.

Jokic actually uses his weight very well and I think he would actually be at least slightly worse off if he lose some of that weight.

I disagree look at Kevin Love's transformation. I think it would even help jokic out even more since he's leading the break many cases dribbling.

[neo515]

I’ve always thought the knock on Jokic being out of shape is silly. He’s a much better basketball player than 99% of the players in the league who are ripped and shredded. So who cares? This isn’t a modeling contest, it’s basketball.

Jokic actually uses his weight very well and I think he would actually be at least slightly worse off if he lose some of that weight.

I disagree look at Kevin Love's transformation. I think it would even help jokic out even more since he's leading the break many cases dribbling.

Kevin Love was a significantly better player before he lost the weight, so there's a better argument to be made that Jokic shouldn't emulate him.

[12footrim]

I’ve always thought the knock on Jokic being out of shape is silly. He’s a much better basketball player than 99% of the players in the league who are ripped and shredded. So who cares? This isn’t a modeling contest, it’s basketball.

Jokic actually uses his weight very well and I think he would actually be at least slightly worse off if he lose some of that weight.

I disagree look at Kevin Love's transformation. I think it would even help jokic out even more since he's leading the break many cases dribbling.

Kevin Love was a significantly better player before he lost the weight, so there's a better argument to be made that Jokic shouldn't emulate him.

N he wasn't. CLEARLY 2013-2014 was his best year and he was very slim that year.

26ppg
12.5rpg
4.5apg
.591% true shooting
26.9 PER