After the Oklahoma City Thunder and Denver Nuggets split a back-to-back, those who hoped the two-game set clarified the MVP race sadly didn't receive any. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 40 points and blew out the Nuggets in Sunday's game. Jokic got his lick back Monday with a near 35-point triple-double and double-digit win over the Thunder.

“This is my third or fourth year in a row, so I’m really — I don’t know. I cannot control it,” Jokić said. “Obviously, I think I’m playing the best basketball of my life. So if that’s enough, it’s enough. If not, the guy deserves it. He’s really amazing.” Nuggets coach Michael Malone was happy to step up and make the case for his guy.

Gilgeous-Alexander has played it cool about his chase toward the MVP. He's always had the mindset that team success matters first and foremost. All the individual accolades come second. In that case, the Thunder's dominating season goes together with that.

In order to slow down the Nuggets, OKC coach Mark Daigneault had rookie Dillon Jones stand at the scorer's table as if he was going to go into the game, but instead of checking in

An interesting strategy to slow down Nikola Jokic

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic were the headliners as the two MVP candidates clashed one final time. But who would've thought that Dillon Jones would steal the show? Especially for not even checking into the game until the last two minutes.