Sometimes, timing is everything.
Tuesday night’s matchup between the Denver Nuggets and Boston Celtics, the first this season between two teams with equally deep playoff aspirations, will showcase both of the NBA’s reigning Players of the Week.
The NBA announced Monday that Nuggets center Nikola Jokić was named Western Conference Player of the Week, while Celtics forward Jayson Tatum was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week. The honors recognize the players’ accomplishments between Dec. 30 and Jan. 5.
Monday’s news marks the second time that Jokić and Tatum have received the honor this season.
Jokić, who averaged 36.5 points, 16.5 rebounds, and 11.3 assists en route to a 3-1 week, has been named Player of the Week a Nuggets franchise record 16 times in his nine-year career. Earlier in the week, Jokić also became the 33rd player in NBA history to reach 15,000 career points before 30. And the Western Conference’s leading scorer, with 31.5 points per game, heads into Tuesday night’s contest with either a triple-double or double-double in each of his last four outings.
Meanwhile, Tatum’s honor was the 12th of his eight-year career, placing him third in Celtics franchise history behind Larry Bird (15) and Paul Pierce (17). The five-time All-Star averaged 25.5 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 4.5 assists in leading Boston to a 3-1 week. Tatum’s most notable performance of the week, perhaps, was a 33-point effort in his team’s narrow win over the Minnesota Timberwolves, in which his defensive play helped hold All-Star guard Anthony Edwards to just 15 points.
Denver and Boston head into Tuesday’s contest on similar trajectories. The Nuggets have won four of their last five games, albeit against competition no higher than 8th place in either conference, behind an impressive 127.4 points per game.
Boston, on the other hand, heads into the Mile High City after surrendering a double-digit, second-half lead in its last outing, a 13-point loss against an Oklahoma City Thunder team riding a 15-game win streak. The Celtics had won three straight before that matchup, however, including a three-point win over the Timberwolves and a dominant win over the Toronto Raptors in which they held their opponents to just 71 total points.
Though Denver and Boston haven’t faced off yet during the regular season, the teams met for a pair of preseason games in Abu Dhabi in October. And by no means an indicator of what to expect Tuesday, it was the Celtics who came away with victories in both of those contests despite Jokić (34 points in two games) besting Tatum (29 points in two games) in the box score.
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