Nicola Yokich is a basketball master.

Centers are thriving in today's NBA.

Who said they were dead?

Although defense, well, that's long dead,

as Kevin Durant, Bradley Beale, and Russell Westbrook

almost set some records on Sunday.

Hey, I'm Tasmalis,

and this is what you need to know in the NBA

for Monday, February 1st.

Two centers are legitimate MVP candidates. Nicole Yolkich, or Joelle Embed, would be the first

center to win it since the early 2000s when Shaquille O'Neal, Tim Duncan, and Kevin

Garnett were running things. Now we can always debate who is a center and who isn't. Tim Duncan

was playing with David Robinson back then. He wasn't a center. All I know, as my man,

Trey Kirby would say, the big man is back. Look, Yokeachitch and Embed, they're definitely not traditional centers.

Case in point, Nicole Yokic's performance on Sunday when his nuggets took on the hottest team in the NBA, the Utah Jazz.

He gave the Jazz 47 points in all sorts of ways. He hit threes. Floaters on the move going past bigs, going past smalls. He got

past all of them. Two-time defensive player of the year, Rudy Gobert, didn't matter. Defensive

stalwart, Derek favors, uh-uh, wings. The spin moves down low, the English on pretty reverse

layups, the footwork. Yokic tied his career high with 47 points and added 12 boards and 5 assists.

Unstoppable. Even though the Jazz came into this one having 1.11 straight, they really had no chance.

Yokic on a mission in this one.

Meethinks he likes playing against Rudy Gobert.

...