Defending Jokic

I have to say I was really happy with how we defended Jokic in game 1. Yes, he put up a lot of points, but he only had 1 assist.

I'm a fan of letting him get his early because historically he has worn himself out late in the game from having to carry his team early. As long as we make him work for his shots and not get anything easy, eventually it will keep up with him.

He has lost weight this season but I still question his conditioning. The shots he was hitting in the first quarter weren't falling for him in the 4th quarter.

Overall I think Nurk does a decent job defending him 1 on 1. Kanter doesn't do nearly as well, unfortunately, so we need to keep Nurk on the floor when Jokic is out there.

 

MPJ is the one guy we need to limit offensively, he is young enough, energetic, and without the responsibilities to teammates he could go for over 40 if we let him.

Agree with Jokic, he was fatigued in the 4th quarter, missing shots and blowing defense. That was a result of having to work earlier in the game. That was with him sitting the first half of the fourth, Denver fans are furious Malone didnt play him more minutes.

Make Jokic go one on one physically, and don't worry if he scores a dozen points in a quarter from it. Don't let other teammates get easy buckets and limit MPJ.

Lets see how it goes in game 2. I don't know if Denver can do much else, they just don't have the offensive firepower to have others create offense. I think the bigger change in game 2 may be how Denver defends, but with all the creators and shooters we have we should just space the floor, not force anything, and find the holes in their defense.

I wouldn't be shocked if we swept this series; which would be awesome. Hard to be too confident as a lifelong bitterly disappointed Blazers fan, but this is about as confident as I can remember being in a playoff series since 2000.

 

Jokic averaged 8.1 assist per game and he commented after the game that he was not able to pass effectively. We held him to 1 assist, so we just need to continue to make it difficult for him.
No double teaming him is the key.

 

The more Jokic has to guard Dame's hard drives the better. Dame doesn't have to shoot it, just keep pressure on him. Dame had two great drive and dish threes doing that. Also make Jokic work and cover away from the basket. And of course, limit his assist opportunities.

We've got this.

 

The key is single covering him. He's such a great passer that if we send a double, he's going to find the open man, and we're going to be left scrambling. We used to do similar things against Dwight back in the day. Good for you getting 35, but if nobody else gets going, we'll take it.

As for MPJ, he's going to give up as much as he gets.

 

I wonder if there might not have been a little bit of rope-a-dope going on in game one.

I thought Jokic went into 1-on-1 mode a lot more than normal, especially against Kanter. When I checked, Jokic had a usage rate of 38.6% in the game when his season average was 29.6%. That's a substantial spike in him using possessions for himself. And I noticed that the usul Denver motion in the offense was missing at times. I think Jokic's teammates depend on him to facilitate. This might explain why he had the worst +/- on the team. If he's focused on shooting rather than running the offense, it's a big advantage for Portland IMO

 

Exactly. I was thinking the same thing. Letting him tire himself out throwing punches early.

 

I kind of like him out on the perimeter. Less offensive rebounds and fewer fouls on our centers.
Yes, he is a good 3pt shooter but our forwards can help out there. I wonder how an occasional zone would work against them.

 

jokic was 6/16 (37.5%) when defended by nurk, 8/11 (72.7%) when defended by other blazers players

 

Nurk supremely outclassed Jokic in the second half.

 

Kanter is flat out awful when he tries to defend him.

 

I think they did an awesome job of switching off in time & that really made Jokic second guess a lot more pass attempts than he probably wanted to be unsure about. The defense rotations have been much better since the near collapse we had right before the hot streak started.

 

I was hoping we'd see the Kanter defense against him from two years ago, but it looks like that is not happening, and Jokic is also much better now.

 

Jokic was much heavier back then. Not quite as quick. He's much slimmer now. Kanter was more athletic back then, but I think the advantage is to Jokic in terms of quickness.

 

if nurk took as much shots as jokic did (27), hed score at least the same as jokic (34)

nurk scored 18 pts less with 17 shots less and people brag about how great was jokic

give nurk that number of shots + his defense and assists, hed be considered the next hakeem olayuwon based on that game alone

 

They will post up Porter more this game and play Milsap more too.

 

Millsap looks pretty over the hill at this point.