Roughly 50 minutes remain before tip-off as Denver Nuggets forward Nikola Jokic prances around the TD Garden visitors locker room wearing nothing but a navy, long-sleeve Denver Basketball T-shirt, black compression shorts, white mid-calf socks and flip flops.
Jokic doubles over his lanky 6’11” frame, sticking his face inside the large salad Mike Miller is chewing at his locker. His nose pokes just inches from Miller’s slab of salmon as he asks the veteran sharpshooter about his dinner. “You’re a legend,” Miller cracks.
As Jameer Nelson speaks to a reporter, Jokic waddles over to the injured point guard’s stall and grabs Nelson’s right arm.