With the NBA season still young, Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic emerged as the early favorite to win the league’s MVP award – the fourth of his career – and the Serbian big man showed exactly why that is in a pivotal moment moment during the Nuggets’ 119-115 victory over the Golden State Warriors in an NBA Cup group game at Ball Arena on Tuesday.

Trailing by two points with less than two minutes left in the fourth quarter, Jokic brought the ball up while Warriors guard Stephen Curry was defending him. Jokic began to fend off the smaller Curry on the wing until the Nuggets big man suddenly turned and fired a perfect header that had Curry searching in all directions for the ball’s location.

Unfortunately for the Warriors star, the ball was still in the hands of Jokic, who immediately fired the 18-foot jump shot to tie the game.

Jokic, a wizard with the ball in his hands, finished the game with 38 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and five steals in 40 minutes. Denver won the competition, but finished 2-2 in NBA Cup group play and failed to advance to the knockout rounds.