The Nuggets turned to Nikola Jokic to deliver two important road wins, and all Denver’s All-Star center had to do was bulldoze his way through Marc Gasol and Jahlil Okafor to score winning buckets.



Those two opposing big men weigh an average of 265 pounds, and Jokic powered past them with relative ease. It was the basketball equivalent of a gritty goal-line rush.



If only Memphis and New Orleans had been able to decipher the invisible line on the Jokic scouting report before those recent games, the intel that says all it takes to bring the 7-foot, 250-pound center to his knees is the sight of a weeks-old, 2-pound French bulldog named Denver.



“Man, I love that dog,” Jokic says.



Denver belongs to teammate Paul Millsap. It was the name his kids picked out when they brought the pup home last month. When Millsap brought Denver into the Nuggets locker room, teammates flocked to the puppy, recorded videos of the tiny creature on their...