Christmas Day is the single biggest day of the NBA regular season when it comes to national exposure, and the Nuggets vs. Timberwolves nightcap did not disappoint. In fact, it may just go down as an instant classic. The Nuggets stole the victory after trailing by as many as nine points in overtime, thanks to an NBA record 18 points by Nikola Jokic in the extra period. 

That was only a portion of the NBA history Jokic set on Thursday, however. Jokic’s 18 overtime points were merely a portion of his gargantuan 56-point, 16-rebound, 15-assist stat line. If you were wondering, yes, that’s the first 55/15/15+ performance in league history. If that’s not enough, Timberwolves’ star Anthony Edwards tallied 44 points of his own despite the loss.

Following the game, Nuggets coach David Adelman agreed that the game was a classic. Not just an instant classic, but one we’ll look back on 20-plus years from now as one of the great games in an era of basketball that’s becoming more and more endearing to fans as the characters around the league make themselves more familiar. 

“I always say this because I've been a part of it, the other side of it,” Adelman said.”They're going to show this game 20 years from now and I'll crack open a beer and watch it. There's other ones that I flip on NBA TV and I immediately turn the channel. So this one of those crazy NBA games with two really good teams, top tier teams. I’m just proud that we found a way, and had enough resolve not to say ‘this game is over’.”

In terms of their daunting overtime deficit, Adelman claimed he was never really worried because of how many absurd twists and turns the game had already taken. In his eyes, what was one more?

“It sounds crazy, but I I didn't think we were completely out of it,” Adelman said. “Just because the way that game was, the shot making and the star players doing what they did. You just felt like there were there were more moments to the game that we could just get ourselves back into it.”

Following Tuesday’s loss to the Mavericks, where Jokic passed to Peyton Watson for an unsuccessful 3-pointer at the buzzer, the common consensus among fans and casual pundits online was that Jokic should never pass up a shot in that moment of a game. 

After Jokic posted his never-before-seen stat line on Christmas, Adelman called back to that moment and insisted that those type of plays are why Jokic is the type of player who can rack up these gaudy numbers in a game. 

“He still made the right play all the time, even though it's 56/16/15,” Adelman said. “It's funny to me. In the Dallas game, he makes the pass to Peyton and I hear chatter from my friends that he should have shot. Tonight, he's making the right play and guys also missed shots tonight but we won the game. His stat line is crazy but, the reason that he makes the right play all the time.”