DENVER — The Denver Nuggets blew out the Phoenix Suns 125-100 in Game 6 on Thursday night to advance to the Western Conference finals for the first time since 2020.
The Nuggets were led by center Nikola Jokic who had another triple-double with 32 points, 12 assists, and 10 rebounds.
The top-seeded Nuggets used a 23-2 run in the first quarter to take an early 44-26 lead. Denver's lead grew to 81-51 by halftime, leading to boos from Suns fans as players went to the locker room.
Two-time NBA MVP Jokic, who finished second in MVP voting his season, was also able to silence his biggest critic Thursday night.
He became just the third player in NBA history to average a 30+ point triple-double in a playoff series, joining LeBron James in the 2017 NBA Finals and Russell Westbrook in the 2017 first round. He also increased his total number of playoff games with a triple-double to 11, the most ever by a center in NBA history.
ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins tweeted an acknowledgement of Jokic's prowess after the Nuggets advanced past the Suns.
"I’ve been in denial about Jokic and the Nuggets… but I MUST say that they are LEGIT. Carry the hell on…" Perkins tweeted Thursday night.
In March, Perkins accused Jokic of padding his stats to reach a triple-double. Perkins' comments led to a national sports conversation about stat padding.
Perkins also alleged in March that NBA MVP voters have a racial bias against Black players, leading to another national conversation involving Jokic.
Jokic finished second in MVP voting this season, but one voter left Jokic completely off ballot. That voter was revealed Thursday to be ESPN analyst Mark Jackson.
During an interview on SiriusXM NBA Radio Thursday, Jackson apologized and said leaving Jokic off of his ballot was a mistake.
"I'm not a guy that does it for clicks to be trending," Jackson said. "Absolute mistake made by me."
Jackson implied that he accidentally submitted his All-NBA selections instead of his MVP selections.
"You can tell, I put one center, two forwards and two guards, so I wasn't even thinking," Jackson explained.
"I apologize to the Denver Nuggets," Jackson continued. "I apologize to Nikola Jokic, who is not only in the MVP discussion and deserved to be on my ballot, but he's one of the greatest players in the history of this game."
"If you want to take away my vote or do whatever, you're more than welcome," Jackson said. "I made a mistake. He deserves, in my opinion, to be clearly... I would've still voted for Joel Embiid MVP, but with Giannis and Joker second and third, they deserved that."
The decision to leave Jokic off the ballot has drawn criticism, including from TNT analyst Charles Barkley, who said the then-unidentified voter was a "damn idiot."
"There's one person, I don't even know this fool's name, that didn't even have Joker in the top five," Barkley said. "People like that shouldn't get a vote."
TNT host Ernie Johnson said during the same conversation that he hoped it was a mistake and not an intentional snub.
"You gotta hope it was some kind of oversight or some kind of tabulation thing, and that guy wouldn't consciously say, 'No, he's not in my top five,'" Johnson said.
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