I fully admit that I woke up this morning thinking about the “what if” that keeps coming up for the Portland Trail Blazers.

What if Jusuf Nurkic didn’t break his leg earlier this year and was healthy for Rip City’s current playoff run? Back in March, I wondered if that was the injury that would prevent this talented team — led by the perpetually underrated Damian Lillard — from contending for an NBA title in 2019.

After Monday night, in which the Denver Nuggets came away with a Game 1 win over the Blazers, there were some people (including me) who wondered if Nurkic could have helped stop the Serbian star forward who poured in 37 points on 11-of-18 from the floor. Enes Kanter and his bum shoulder obviously didn’t help.

Despite the fact that we’re dealing with a hypothetical here, the answer is a firm no. The real answer is that Jokic is nearly impossible to stop even if he doesn’t score like he did in Game 1.

This is the same Jokic who destroyed the Blazers in January with 40 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists … and that included an array of moves around Nurkic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQHBtbMRIAg

Even earlier than that, he led the Nuggets to a one-point win over Portland in November while hitting 7-of-12 from the floor. Nurkic played that game, too.

The point here is if you haven’t realized that Jokic is extremely good at basketball no matter who guards him — except maybe DeMarcus Cousins — you’re missing out. And even if he doesn’t score, the Nuggets offense runs through Jokic because he dishes dimes like a point guard.

To hammer home that point, here’s Jokic’s teammate Paul Millsap comparing the forward and his incredible passing skills to TOM BRADY!!

“He’s like a quarterback out there. I consider him like a Tom Brady. He’s always going to pick you apart and make the right reads. Commend him for doing that at this stage in his career. It’s unbelievable.”

Nurk or not, the Blazers are in trouble if Nikola “Brady” Jokic continues wreaking havoc.