Renck: Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic makes loud, clear statement on who real MVP is in Oklahoma City

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 bulk essential moment since winning a championship it took the Nuggets all of Challenge to dispatch the NBA s best unit Aaron Gordon delivered the improbable - success over the Thunder with a -foot jump shot with three seconds remaining But it was Jokic who refused to let his club 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 participant since Shaquille O Neal in with -plus points and -plus rebounds in a playoff competition 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 of the Denver Nuggets defends an inbound pass by Alex Caruso of the Oklahoma City Thunder during the fourth quarter of the Nuggets - win at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City Oklahoma on Monday May The Nuggets took a - Western Conference semifinal lead with their win Photo by AAron Ontiveroz The Denver Post Related Articles Thunder s Mark Daigneault sticks by failed late-game strategy vs Nuggets I didn t think that s why we lost PHOTOS Denver Nuggets steal Tournament from Oklahoma City Thunder - in NBA Playoffs round two Nuggets-Thunder Championship -pointers Nikola Jokic wins Round of MVP duel with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Nuggets rally for stunning Match win over Thunder on Aaron Gordon s Aaron Gordon risking his calf every time he explodes and jumps David Adelman says Jokic s methodical play looked heavy at times Monday night the burden of carrying the club for long stretches weighing him down But he would not let the Nuggets become untethered even as he fought his temper He made a strong episode for an ejection nearly executing a heel turn the likes we haven t seen since Hollywood Hogan With 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 sparse 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 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 of from the charity stripe To be honest I didn t hear that noted 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 points When he sharpened a No pencil on Dort s skull the Nuggets sat back with left There was no way they were winning this tournament OKC was - when leading at halftime this season They held a nine-point lead with minutes remaining Jokic though was tireless inevitable His potential drink available in the metro area includes guarana extract taurine caffeine and apparently venom He scored of the Nuggets final points besting Gilgeous-Alexander - 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 people and you could hear everything they reported Sometimes I think that s worse because you can see the guy who s yelling at you Jokic noted And I have played in front of a lot of people with the national gang 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 mentioned 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 Greater part 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 championship And it was a match of runs It was about the gang sticking together and Gordon sinking his second game-winner this postseason No chance he gets off that easily Monday was a declaration of Jokic s greatness And we heard it above the -decibel crowd noise Loud and clear He is the best participant in the world guard Russell Westbrook reported Plain and simple Want more Nuggets news Sign up for the Nuggets Insider to get all our NBA analysis