DENVER (AP) — Nikola Jokic will finally see a very familiar face at the NBA All-Star Game.
The Denver Nuggets superstar center was named an All-Star for the eighth consecutive season and will start for the sixth straight year. And for the first time, he'll have a teammate tagging along as Jamal Murray earned the first All-Star berth of his nine-year career thanks to career-high averages across the board.
"It feels really good," Jokic said. "He's been playing at a really high level the last two years. ... It's good for him to be there because he's supposed to be there."
Jokic, a three-time NBA MVP, is again in the midst of an historic season. He's the first player in NBA history to reach the All-Star break having hit the following marks:
—1,000 points.
—475 rebounds.
—400 assists.
—250 converted free throws.
—75 3-pointers.
—30 blocks.
And he did it despite missing 16 games with a knee injury and often having to wrap and ice his aching right hand after games like he did Wednesday night following Denver's 122-116 win over Memphis in which he posted another triple-double.
Murray is having a career year, himself, averaging career bests in points (25.8), assists (7.6) and rebounds (4.4) per game. He's also had 13 30-point games and 11 times he's dished out double digits in assists.
The Nuggets went into the All-Star break in third place in the Western Conference at 35-20 despite an injury-riddled season that has seen all five starters miss time and six of their top rotation players go out for significant stretches.
After losing to eventual champion Oklahoma City in seven games in the playoffs last year, the Nuggets bolstered their depth, which has been tested way beyond what they could have imagined back in October.
"We've had everybody on our roster contribute at some point this season," Jokic said. "Some guys won us a couple of games that don't play big minutes right now. Injuries definitely hurt us, but I think they gave us something, too."
Of course, Jokic and Murray are at their best when they're on the court together, especially in the fourth quarter where their two-man game is one of the best since Karl Malone and John Stockton.
"We definitely help each other throughout our careers and definitely made each other much better," Jokic said.
Murray has long said that if he were to make an All-Star Game, he’d take it competitively and seriously, suggesting he'd rather vacation than play in the game if it's just a no-defense display of teams burning up the nets.
"I'm down to play 1-on-1, I don't care, I'm just a competitor," Murray said. "So I want to be known as one of those guys who's going to play hard every time he steps on the court."
The All-Star Game is nothing new for Jokic but Murray is a novice on this stage.
"Just the experience," coach David Adelman said when asked what he hoped Murray would get out of the festivities. "I've gotten to do it as an assistant coach. I think it's just the experience being around the other guys. They have the glorified practice but you really get to know these other people that you competed against at a really high level in the playoffs and all those other things. I'll be interested to see what the new format's like, but just for him to get the notoriety of what it is and he deserves it."
The new format pits international players and Americans.
"It's an honor to go and represent your team," Adelman said, "represent the league and now represent the world, it's cool the way they're doing this, I hope it works out, I hope the guys are competitive but it's just so deserved.
"I'm just happy for him to go get the experience, I think Nikola's not as excited. It's cool for two of our guys to go. It really says a lot about what our season's been. Those guys go and they represent these other players, what these other players did for them during the first half of the season to get us to where we're at, to put us in position to be a part of the conversation.
"So, yeah, he's representing all of us when he goes there."
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