Nikola Jokic On Dunking Twice In Game 5: ‘I’m A Freak Of Nature’

Nikola Jokic had one of the best games of his already incredible career on Tuesday night, leading the Nuggets to a Game 5 win over the Timberwolves and a 3-2 lead in the series.

Jokic sent a message with the performance, as he flipped the script from the first two games in Denver where the Wolves depth at center seemed to frustrate the MVP. In Game 5, it was Jokic who has Minnesota’s bigs frustrated, most notably Rudy Gobert, who had no answer for Jokic in the post. Jokic hit Gobert with seemingly every move in his arsenal, and left the DPOY struggling to figure out what to do in response.

Beyond a masterful display of post skill, Jokic also showed how important the game was with an extremely rare two dunk night, throwing down a pair of dunks when he got an open lane. Jokic is known for his incredible ability to dominate with a floor-bound game, so seeing him get up for two dunks was rather surprising. After the game he got asked about those dunks — and one he had in Minnesota — and quipped he was just showing his incredible athleticism, calling himself a “freak of nature.”

It’s a very funny line from Jokic, who occasionally flashes that dry humor in pressers. While he brushed off the idea he was doing anything particularly remarkable with his dunks.with this joke, they are an indicator of his level of aggression to get to the rim that strongly, even if he tends not to go for dunks in traffic. Beyond those dunks, Jokic was attacking the rim constantly and finishing in a variety of ways. That is where he truly is a freak of nature, not so much as a high flyer.