The Opening Tip

• RJ Barrett sinks the Celtics 
• Things may be going lopsided in Indiana, but at least the Pacers have their spiritual leader back
• A player we haven’t seen in almost 1,000 days is nearing a comeback

Tonight's must-watch games

1. Nikola Jokic is having an all-time season on an average team

Two things are true about the 2021-22 Nuggets:

1. At 18-18 and indefinitely without their second- and third-best players, they are heading toward a lost season.
2. They are getting from their best player one of the great individual seasons ever. Or, by some metrics, the greatest individual season ever. 

While Nikola Jokic’s raw stats are good as ever -- 25.7 PPG/14.2 RPG/7 APG -- the nerdy advanced stats that sound like calculus terms are even better.

His Player Efficiency Rating, a stat whose leader has also been the MVP six years in a row, for example, is 32.17.

That is not just good, that would be the highest mark ever if he sustains it for the entire season.

Here’s the full list of top PER seasons: 

Jokic also leads the league in VORP (3.9), BPM (13.4), DPBM (4.7), OBPM (8.7) and C=A2+B2 (6.5).

(That last one is actually just the Pythagorean theorem, but the other ones are real. Here’s a glossary.)

Here are some stats in human terms: 

• When Jokic is on the court, the Nuggets have a net-rating of 9.1 (they outscore teams by 9.1 points per 100 possessions), which isn’t far from the 73-9 2015-16 Warriors’ net-rating of 10.86. 
• When Jokic is off the court, the Nuggets have a net-rating of -13.5, which is three points worse than the 10-72 2015-16 76ers’ net-rating of -10.5. 

TL/DR: The massively-depleted Nuggets are an elite, high-end team when Jokic plays, and arguably the worst team ever when he doesn’t.

2. Daily GIF: RJ Barrett, FTW

RJ Barrett started last night’s game 3-of-14, but finished it 1-of-1 with this miracle game-winner to beat the Celtics, who are pushing the boundaries of how to consistently lose in the stupidest ways possible. (Check this one out from Wednesday.)

Before Barrett, it was Evan Fournier -- who has absolutely sucked this season -- who dropped a career-high 41 points and kept the Knicks in a game they trailed by 25.

Also … check this stat out from ESPN: 
 

2-229 now. 

3. Trivia time

Before Carmelo Anthony, who was the last Knick to make multiple All-Star teams with the franchise?

Hint: Not Patrick Ewing, but not long after. 

4. By the numbers

20 points

After a 10-day with Atlanta, Lance Stephenson is back where he belongs on the Indiana Pacers (for the third time).

He went off for 30 points on Wednesday night against the Nets, including 20 in the first quarter, which he ended with a buzzer-beating 3 and a shimmy.
 

30 games

Turns out Nikola Jokic's back-turned shove of Markieff Morris in November was kinda serious. Morris still hasn't returned from his injury. That’s 30 missed games.

Here’s how he broke down the injury on Twitter last night:
 

39 percent

Ja Morant and the Grizzlies are 26-14 and on a seven-game win streak. Morant is making The Leap, and it’s thanks in-part to a much-improved jumper. Along with his reckless drives to the rim, he’s shooting 39 percent from deep this year, up from 30.3 percent last year.

941 days

Klay Thompson is rumored to return on Sunday. If so, it’ll be the first NBA game he’s played since Game 6 of the 2019 Finals, which will have been 941 days prior.

5.  Quick Hits

• ICYM the Kevin Porter Jr. drama from yesterday, here’s some context. 
• LeBron, KD, Steph and DeMar DeRozan (!) lead the first round of All-Star voting.
• Try and guess the New York Post’s backpage headline for Kyrie’s return, then click here.
• Here’s Steph Curry doing his best Ben Simmons impression.
• In honor of Dirk’s recent retirement, here’s his humblest/funniest moment after his worst moment.
• From Reddit: The Hornets have five players averaging 16-plus PPG 
• That time Chuck joked that Ernie helped storm the capital.

6.  Reads

• The Athletic to be swallowed by industry it aimed to kill [Defector]
• 'Get on the next flight': Inside the frenzy to fill NBA rosters [ESPN]
• Damian Lillard gives Blazers list of 12,482 preferred trade destinations [The Onion]

Trivia answer: Allen Houston (1999-00, 2000-01)