Jokic is like Harden or PG13. Just contain the rest of the team and it doesn't matter if they get 40 points.
Yes, I said repeatedly before the playoffs that OKC was a good matchup for us. Round 2-- not as much. Both of SA/DEN give us matchup issues. But Jokic is not Adams-- Kanter/Meyers/Collins will inevitably get destroyed.
In the western conference everyone has match up problems for other teams. All those playoff teams have talent and can exploit you. Denver or SAS will present problems for us, Blazers just have to try to figure out how to use their advantages too. Its gonna be a fight to survive the rest of the way.
you lost me there...not a negative affirmation guy myself...Jokic is great...he's going to get his...Barton couldn't throw a ball in a swimming pool this series so...you have to pick your open guy and double team the shooter..I'm also a real believer in Mo and Chief as a double team nightmare for the opposition..we have better defenders than folks think. Adams was supposed to destroy Kanter….he didn't
He's averaging 24/12/9 on nearly 50/40/90. Dude is putting up a 33 PER. Best big in the NBA playoffs this year and it's not even close. Meyers Freaking Leonard is not stopping that. And Denver has the shooting to mitigate double teams. They're not OKC.
no doubt...Paul George was a daily MVP contender....it's the playoffs..you get to challenge the best this time of year but if my team believes they can beat anyone.....I'm with them....not fearing Denver or SA or GS or the Rockets....the Blazers can beat these teams...I like our chances right about now but to do it, our bench needs to click again quickly
It's not a question of fear. The question was of preference-- which is what this thread is about. Without even taking HCA into the picture, I believe unequivocally that SA is the better matchup for us. And you and KS are the only ones who believe our third string center can apparently stop the best big currently in the NBA. That shit deserves ridicule.
Jokic poses a lot of problems but I'm not seing the matchup issues SAS gives us. We have a clear backcourt advantage, Kanter can dominate the Center position, and we can put Moe on Derozan and Chirf on Aldridge. It seems like a great matchup. What am I missing ?
Come on Spurs... Dame just finished kicking Westbrook's ass, now its Turncoat's turn. He's been dodging and avoiding it for years.
Aldridge is my biggest issue there. Kanter has a separated shoulder, albeit healing. Aminu has struggled against Aldridge in the past few years, especially when LA decides to go inside. Derrick White has come on defensively in the second half the season. I think Moe can handle Derozan. They pose SOME problems, but they're still preferable to me over what Denver could do to us.
Jokic is massively better than Adams on offense, but worse on defense. The key would be to go at Jokic as much as possible when we're on offense to both wear him down and to try and get him in foul trouble. If he's guarding Kanter that would be one of the few match-ups left in the playoffs that we could exploit the high pick and roll against, which of course is our go to offense. I do completely agree that we don't really have anyone to slow him down from doing whatever he wants on offense though. Last night Malone said maybe he needs to play Jokic 48 minutes after they again collapsed when he left the game. Jokic isn't in the greatest shape so I could see him wearing down the further they go into the playoffs. I'm not saying I want Denver though.
His defense was what surprised me last night, granted SA has no one like Dame in the p&r. But they have Craig/Harris/Millsap who can all try to stop Dame. That's a better defensive trio than anything OKC could throw out.
Yeah, the last time we played Denver they used Craig a lot on Dame and he was super physical with him. Hopefully Dame learned how to combat that since Schroder was playing that same way.
