Woody Paige: Basketball inventor Naismith would love Nuggets style of play

May 27—The original Dr. J. brought basketball to Denver for the first time in 1895. The Nuggets have elevated the game to a new level in Denver for the first time in 2023.

The team in the dusty cowtown that eventually metamorphosed into cosmopolitan city will try for the title in the NBA Finals. But the Nuggets still don't know who they will play after the Celtics' incredible victory over the Heat at the buzzer Saturday night on a tip-in by Colorado's own Derrick White

Dr. James Naismith, the creator of basketball, would be gratified about how his game is played down the street from his old home.

The 30-year-old Canadian-American, a faculty member in the physical education office at the Young Men's Christian Association in Springfield, Mass., 132 years ago, was assigned to develop an indoor sport for students during the cold winters. He produced an activity with two peach baskets placed 10 feet high, a soccer ball and a set of 11 rules, and "Naismith Ball" immediately became popular despite 1-0 and 2-1 scores.

Four years later Naismith moved to Denver to become head of the downtown Denver YMCA phys ed department and instruct young adults about the new sport. He and his bride lived in an apartment at 1132 South 13th Street between Champa and Arapahoe by Cherry Creek. He walked to work on Blake Street every day and attended Grove Medical School.

The site is less than a mile from the Nuggets' arena.

In 1900 after Naismith earned his medical degree, Kansas University hired him to become its first basketball coach. The celebrated Naismith died in 1939, the same year the national AAU basketball tournament, with 52 teams competing, was conducted for the first time in Denver's downtown auditorium across the street from where Naismith lived. The photo of the inventor holding a basketball while in Denver was on the cover of the tournament program.

The NCAA Final Four and the ABA Finals have been held in Denver, but the NBA Finals finally are here.

The Joker is back in the house.

And 8 out of 10 doctors, including Naismith, would agree that Nikola Jokic is the greatest basketball player in the world today. Only Doc Rivers, who is biased, would differ, and Julius Erving, the legendary Dr. J., vacillates.

In the 15 playoff games of 2023, Jokic has averaged a triple double — 29.9 points, 13.3 rebounds and 10.3 assists. He reached double digits in points in all 15 games (including 53, 43, 39, 34, 32 and 30 twice), in rebounds in 12 (including 21, 19 and 17 twice) and assists in nine (including 17, 14,13 and 12 five times). The Nuggets are 12-3 in the flabbergasting stretch.

Basketball commentator and Celtics fanatic Bill Simmons declared at Christmas that "The Joker" is a better offensive player than Hall of Famer "Larry Legend" (Bird), then recently said that Nikola also should be deemed a physician. "We already had the doctor in Julius Erving. But (Jokic) is another kind of doctor. He's just dissecting the game constantly, always making the right decision."

Charles Barkley, a Jokic and Nuggets advocate all season, said, "Let's just enjoy greatness watching Jokic. I love this kid", who is 28 and signed the most massive contract extension (five years, $278 million) in NBA history last year.

The Sensational Serb has become The center of attention in the postseason.

Yet, Jokic doesn't even have a signature sneaker with Nike. And Taco Bell doesn't feature him in a commercial. Nikola doesn't care. He ties his wedding ring into the shoelaces before games and waves a special signal to his young daughter at the end of games.

Jokic loves to eat cevapi (a Serbian sausage composed of three meats) and fish stew. And he used to drink three liters of Coca-Cola every day until abruptly quitting before his first flight to Denver. Nikola scrubbed social media "because it's a waste of time," and he may be the funniest player in the league with his self-deprecating humorous responses in press conferences.

He is "The Joker".

Yet, former NBA player Gilbert Arenas said the other day on a podcast that youngsters won't want to watch Jokic because he doesn't have the "IT" factor, and Kendrick Perkins criticized Jokic in MVP discussions for "stat-padding". Both are wrong. Nobody can emulate Jokic's unique game, and anyone who has seen Jokic play knows he's not interested in statistics, only victories.

Dr. J. (for Jokic and Joker) is the leader of the preeminent Nuggets team ever.

Dr. James Naismith is here in spirit as the Nuggets reinvent basketball.