NBA
Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic and Jalen Brunson from New York are granted Kia NBA Players of the Month
Antonio is a life long sports enthusiast and professional journalist, who shares an obssesive urge to find and dig up the most interesting facts to guide gamblers towards more exciting, yet safe bets. In his own words, ''you can never really know enough about the things you love''.
All posts by Antonio KozlowUpdated03 Mar 2023
The Nuggets maintain their status stop of the Western Conference for one big reason, a reason so big he is six-foot-eleven and weighs 284 pounds. To no one’s surprise his name is Nikola Jokic, he hails from Serbia, and his whole team in Denver benefits from him, as once again this February he earns the West’s Kia Player of the Month.
On the other side of the continent, there is another player who might do come as a surprise. Jalen Brunson has been leading the Knicks to one of the best months the New York side has enjoyed in the past years, taken them to their conference’s 5th spot. This past February, the point guard was awarded the best player of the East.
Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokić and New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson have been named the Kia NBA Western and Eastern Conference Players of the Month, respectively, for games played in February. pic.twitter.com/6eoJgs4IdZ
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) March 2, 2023
Let’s start with The Joker. The 28-year-old just became the first Nuggets player to ever earn this title for a second month in a row, now joining his trophy shelf for a sixth Player of the Month award, the most any athlete has had in franchise history.
The NBA’s two-time MVP, who is currently frontrunning for a third historic time, averaged 22.6 points, 14.2 rebounds, and 10.2 assists in his eleven contests during February. He achieved this monster stat line while shooting .642 from the field and .500 from beyond the arc.
Jokic registered eight triple-doubles in February to lead his squad to nine victories during this time span, leaving the Nuggets in a comfortable first place in their conference with a strong 44-19 track.
With the Serbian’s league-leading 24 triple-doubles this campaign, he joined legend Wilt Chamberlain in the NBA history books as the only big men to record eight or more triple doubles in a single month. Every time The Joker hands in a triple-double, his team has won (24-0 this season) as he registered 4 in his last 5 matches.
Brunson is leading the Knicks through their latest seven-game winning streak
Jalen Brunson has been central for New York this month, finishing February with averages of 27.3 points while shooting 42.6% from three-pointers and 52.9% overall, and adding 6.0 assists to his case. The Knicks are out to prove themselves in the East as they’ve been defeating their conference’s biggest teams such as the Brooklyn Nets and the Celtics.
Their victory against Boston was their last of the month, which meant their sixth straight win at the time (now 7) and finishing February with a 9-2 record and in the Eastern Conference’s 5th place.
One of the point guard’s best performances of the past few weeks was against the 76ers, as Brunson dropped 30 points, won 7 rebounds and handed out 9 assists. Check out his highlights from that night’s defeat against Philadelphia:
Other honorable mentions in New York’s conference were Milwaukee star Giannis Antetokounmpo, Sixers center Joel Embiid, Donovan Mitchell from the Cavs, his teammate Julius Randle, Pascal Siakam from Toronto and Hawks point guard Trae Young.
As for the West, Lakers’ Anthony Davis had a great month, as did De’Aaron Fox from Sacramento, Damian Lillard’s incredible high-scoring games, Utah’s Lauri Markkanen and Klay Thompson from the Bay Area team.
