[Ty Lue] on Jokic’s big night: “Our gameplan was to make him score… I didn’t think he would score 55.”
Historically that strategy works and when everyone else was bricking it was working fine
Yep. It’s been the Wolves strategy for a few years now.
You just can’t stop Jokic.
Sometimes you can limit him when shots aren’t falling, other times he’ll shoot 50% and do good still, and OTHER other times he will be absolutely insane scorer like tonight
Wolves beat him on his 60 point triple double night last year
That was all on russ. Such a great game
Can’t just be one other guy responsible if someone has that game and they lose. Russ definitely was part of it.
It’s funny we have this reputation as the “Nuggets killers” and the strategy is just to… let the best player on the planet score as much as he can
Makes him score works better when you have 7 games to tire him out.
So annoyed Aaron Gordan working on his 3pt shot has fucked that strategy over.
That’s the right mentality. Making Joker score is your best option. His scoring is 9.9⁄10 but his passing is 12⁄10
Think it’s also because Jokic is the only playmaker on their team so if he’s not setting guys up nobody will. It’s probably the same for Trae Young, Cade or most guys that have everything run through them
Jamal Murray is pretty good at basketball sometimes
Jamal Murray against the Lakers is the best basketball player of all time
The potential hiccup here (and it’s still arguably the best strategy) is that Joker’s so efficient time that height just be able to keep pace on his own
Have you watched a nuggets game?
The passes lead to wide open standstill 3s and dunks. Hard for jokic to beat that with 2s with a defender him
Anyone clowing Ty Lue is a dumbass. The Clippers are ass and they could’ve won
Lue is right. The meming just makes it sound worse than it actually is.
Its the same thing with the infamous “it was a bad shot” quote by PG. He was right. It was 100% a bad shot.
“It is possible to make no mistakes and still lose. That is not weakness, that is life” -Captain Jean Luc Picard
Damn, invoking the words of the captain. It’s gettin real.
Yeah, I really like that quote. One of my favorite ones. It also helps deal with all the result-based judging we do. Just because something doesn’t pan out does not mean it was a bad idea. Especially when talking about the draft.
Lots of people think Ty Lue sucks as a coach but he’s actually quite decent.
My opinion is you can’t be a head coach and be considered bad with a championship on your resume, especially for the Cleveland Cavaliers which are historically a bit of a clown show franchise.
“But he had prime LeBron and Kyrie!” Red Auerbach had prime Bill Russell and Bob Couzy, Phil Jackson had prime MJ and Pippen (and then Kobe and Shaq, and then Kobe and Gasol), Popovich had Tim Duncan, Ginobili and Parker. Pretty hard to be a championship winning team without some legends on the team, because I mean the talent has to be on the floor to succeed in a very talented league.
Maybe there are better coaches out there, but he certainly doesn’t suck as a coach.
Pretty bad metric imo. Doc rivers has a championship and has been absolute ass on every team since then.
Doc Rivers was a good coach though. The game just passed him by. In the era of LeBron and Curry, everyone thinks staying on top forever is simple. Sometimes you just can’t keep up any longer.
Same goes for coaches.
For most people motivation changes over time. Some people like LeBron and Curry maintain that drive to be exceptional for a very very long time, Doc Rivers is likely an example of someone more regular, who reached the pinnacle then lost that drive, but certainly isn’t going to retire when he can coast and get paid tens of millions a year to do it.
He’s definitely gotten worse as he’s gone along, I won’t argue there. I don’t think it’s fair to say he was absolutely ass on every team since, though. He coached the Clippers through what was up to that point the only success that franchise had ever really seen.
Was pretty fucking terrible at the end of that Clippers run though, and was atrocious for Philly. Remains to be seen what his Bucks tenure will be remembered for.
Doc had Thibs as a defense mastermind pulling the strings too.
I think as time has passed, most people say that the Celtics won that championship in spite of Doc coaching. Is that the verifiable? Probably not.
They struggled in the playoffs to a degree other champions with their point differential/team quality have not.
Really? If the bucks could snag any coach in the league id probably take lue.
Yeah I remember Kerr and Spo talking about this strat
Spo talked about how dumb the idea of making Jokic a scorer/passer is. Which it is. He’s too good for that. Suns were acting like Einsteins when their strategy of making Jokic a scorer worked out in the playoffs, conveniently ignoring that he had 11 assists to go with the 50 points. Also the way it’s phrased just irks me, like he’s incapable of scoring without you “making” him one.
Previous to this season, it seems that jokic is much more comfortable being an opportunistic scorer rather than the designated go-to. He looks to pass first, usually.
You could attack him on defense, get him slightly flustered or winded, and then he stops taking it to the paint and starts shooting I’ll advised 3s. It worked when the warriors played him the first time this year (ofc AG has the night of his life).
But since that game i noticed jokic actively looking to score in a way he normally doesnt. Thats beautiful as a basketball fan, terrifying as a non nuggets fan
Well both are statistically anomalies. Vs warriors jokic shot 1⁄12 from 3, mostly wide open ones. If he had made 2⁄12 Denver might have won. This game he made 5⁄6 from 3, if he had made 1⁄6 Denver would have got a tougher fight. He didnt really change too much how he played. I think for Jokic if you are open just shoot it. He didnt expect himself to shoot 1⁄12, but its wide open so he would always shoot.
The key is the entire league has to follow this strategy throughout the entire regular season so he’s worn out by the playoffs.
This is what UConn’s strategy was against Edey in the national championship
You don’t think that the nuggets might figure that out at some point..?
There’s only 2 ways to play the nuggets and find some success. Let Jokic score whenever he wants in 1 on 1’s and clamp down the other 4, or be the Thunder and successfully slow Jokic down. However for the OKC series, Gordon was moving like MJ so we probably will be adjusting for future battles I imagine.
it just shows the people clowing Lue didn’t really watch NBA games
I mean ppl will laugh at Ty Lue now but this is not a bad game plan. Real ones remember torturous losses last year against the wolves and the wizards when jokic put up brain breaking scoring and Nugs still lost lol
Yup this is Jokic’s first career win in a 50 point game lol
Jokic is an all-timer, but he might honestly already be #1 for weird ass career stats like this
They forgot they have a bench now minus MPJ.
It’s not weird at all, if Jokic is pumping you and the Nuggets are winning he’s going to the bench and resting, not trying to go for 50.
That’s an insane stat lol
That is a ridiculous stat
I love Russ but i still haven’t forgiven him for selling that Jokic game last season
I also love Russ but that wolves game haunts me to this DAY. Such a stupid idea to close out on a 3 point shooter sigh and it fucking goes in. lol my rage!
he bricked a layup that he shouldnt have taken right before. So fucking angry
If Russ had touch he would be one of the greatest players of all time
if Russ shot Tupac he’d still be alive
Diabolical lmao
That was an IQ issue lmao. I raged tf out over that play and still talk about it often and I’m not even a nugs fan
Opposite for me. That got Malone and Booth fired and led to us actually having a bench this year.
Booth being fired is the one thing that has made the last year bareable for me
bearable. enjoy
In all fairness, that is the classical way to beat the Jokic Nuggets. Accept that he’s going to get his buckets and try to stop the others from getting going.
The problem is that current Jokic is generationally good efficiency wise, and also that he now has the best bench he has ever had (not that it’s amazing, but much better than before).
Jokic was about as efficient before.
Also the Clips were beating them at half, what changed was the Clips offense was dogshit in the second half.
Dem unc legs can’t last 30+ minutes
Spencer Jones started locking up Harden and it was over.
He kinda wasn’t, Jokic is going crazy right now, his highest season TS was 70% (highest in 2022-23 season) before, and it’s 77% so far this season (by far the highest in the league)
Plan failed successfully
Plan successfully failed
Plan fully failed success
Plan succeeded ineffectually
Plan failingly succeeded
The operation was a success but the patient died.
Gameplan worked too well lmao
It’s crazy to imagine what kind of year Joker would have if he took 20+ shots a game like this
Why stop at 20? What if he took a Cade-like 45 shots?
give jokic star guard amount of shots & he’d be scoring like 2023 embiid with a consistent 3 ball but worse defense
Jokic would break Wilt record
82% TS this season is unreal! I’d like to see his stats at around 70%
They wouldve been fine if he only had 54
First time in NBA history any coach ever admitted their gameplan to beating a team was to make the opponents score the basketball.
No this is a common strategy when playing against a great playmakers, accept that they’ll get theirs and attack the other players. Tellingly this is Jokic’s first win when scoring 50.
Nope
This is the first time Jokic scored 50 and won
Ty “I had the over” Lue
He didn’t get a triple double, so it was kind of a success, except Jokic seems aware now when teams are running this strategy
Another moral victory for the Lakers.
And he just scores a 40-piece anyway
lmao what did they expect from the mvp ??
Exactly what he did
The strat is to let him score and make others miss
I don’t see SGA on this vid.
I think on his current form you’d bet on allowing him to assist and not shoot, since I can guarantee the others around him (besides maybe AG atm) will miss their fair share - alot more than what jokic would miss currently.
It’s a tricky one, either you make him shoot and he does this… or he doesn’t.. (he has had a few poor shooting nights but not many).
Or you eliminate his scoring knowing he will assist and you are hoping others miss more than what jokic would if he allowed him shots…
Then there is the overall sentiment that no matter what the strategy you employ on the night, he will somehow make it work and drag the nuggets to the W
Gamble didn’t pay off Lue? Well not all bets turn out good. I’m sure he’ll aspire to do better next match up.
Lue is a good coach but still should fire him and tear the whole team down.
I think Lue is a good tactical coach. I think he’s just bad at making the players accountable. Then again, it’s hard to make Harden be accountable on defense when the Clippers’ entire offense rests on his old ass.
The team is just cooked, Clippers have basically been “good” for 15 years now. Since Aminu in 2010 draft clippers have only had 2 draft picks in the lottery in Shai + Jerome Robinson. No other picks in the top 25.
You can only kick the can down the road for so long by investing in guys running on fumes
I mean, besides a few of dudes in their late 20s he’s got a roster of 30+ year old players who are set in their ways. Harden has always been mid at best at defense and Kawhi is injured or resting a lot. And like you said, pretty much the entire clips offense is dependent on Harden.
It’s really a failure at team building. The Clippers don’t have a dude under 27 on their roster. 80% of it is over 30. The oldest roster in the league with an average age of 33. What is Lue supposed to do to inspire them and get them to change now? How is he supposed to hold them accountable?
I don’t know that any coach in the league could win a championship with this roster. It’s fundamentally flawed.
He bet the over
The operation was a success but the patient died
This is what makes Jokic so impossible to guard. You either risk him dropping 50 or you risk him elevating everyone else. Pick your poison but either way your screwed
Now you know Ty Lue! Jokic is fucking terrifying and it’s not even playoffs.
Ah, ancient 2019-2024 strategy
hahaha jokes on you ty
We let the best scorer in the league empty all game.
Surprisingly, he scored a lot.
Scoring a lot was expected but scoring 55 on 18⁄23 was quite unexpected and hurt the plan.
55 pts on 23 shots, while being guarded primarily by All Defensive 2nd Team centre, Ivica Zubac.
“We decided it was smart to let the most efficient scorer in the NBA score. We were shocked when he scored efficiently.”
This is jokics first win on a 50+ win game. Jokic will get his no matter what, so its better to let him score and not let him rack up assists than to let him score and rack them up.
I mean to be fair, historically that has worked fine.
If you know ball, the strategy is a legitimate one. But if it isn’t executed well then you’re fucked. All other players must be locked down and Jokic is an amazing passer making that more difficult
Task succeeded unsuccessfully
Jokic’s bag is bottomless
Ty Lue: “Our gameplan worked!” Zubac: “I held him to half of his season average for assists. That’s pretty good defense.”
This don’t sound dumb to me. You can take away his scoring or take away his passing. They chose and he did what he does. That’s not a bad game plan and anyone in the nba knows that top ten players like Jokic can blow up the best of game plans. That’s the nba. You put players like that in what you feel is their most uncomfortable position and hope for the best.
I’d much rather deal with Jokers scoring than him freely dissecting the defense with his passing. I get this approach. Him hitting shots is way less demoralizing than watching his pocket passes fly by your head all night.
Make him score when he’s been one of the most efficient players of all time to start the season. Bold move.
Your game plan is to make the guy who basically averages 28-13-13 on damn near 60⁄40 splits score? LMAO
Bold strategy that backfired :)
Keeping Jokic to only 6 assists counts as a moral victory
This strategy is pretty common honestly, it’s used a lot in high school games where the other team has 1 guy who is just far superior than everyone else so they just say, “ok, he’ll get his points, but the rest of the team will be completely locked down” I know I’m comparing high school to the NBA, but the gameplan of not letting Jokic get the other guys involved and just let him score isn’t a bad idea.. he’s just so damn good
It used to work with Kobe or MJ when the others around that guy arent as gifted or talented. Even with someone like Nash, was the idea to make him score and not pass. Jokic though, is just an amazing scorer. Much like LeBron, hes a much better scorer then people expect him to be, because its overshadowed by his other talents, especially passing.
Jokic also is not gonna take isos and then bad shots, like Kobe for example would do. That takes the others out of the game, offensively and defensively.
If id have to make a strategy for Jokic, it would be to double him hard in the post and to sag off a lot. The more he stays outside the 3pt line, the less his other teammates will be involved.
You cant take away his passing and his scoring. So Id make sure he wont get assists or easy postups, and let the others make the decisions.
And if they make the great decisions; than thats it. But better than him having to score 55.
Ty Lue is on the Doc Rivers trajectory. Win a title early in coaching career and live off that forever somehow while never winning anything ever again
It’s over buddy
Maybe next time you try to not let horseman drop a 50 piece on your head
He’s guilty
Rest of the team didn’t even shoot good today but they got stops on defence.
yeah they didn’t really double, the few times they did it was an immediate assist. It was a close game until the 3rd, because the clippers offence got shut down
This was a good strategy. Clippers just don’t get enough
This is the correct gameplan.
And they have the personnel to do it. You put a big that can guard Jokic decently on an island and avoid doubling him. Doubling him just makes him more dangerous.
It’s just that the others are also playing good lol.
Good strat. Nuggets are now like 1-5 when Jokic scores 50. When he’s scoring, Nuggets are typically losing. Clippers coulda won but they sat their starters in the fourth for some reason.
Pregame: “ok focus up guys, game plan is to make Jokic beat us”
2 hours later: “ Ou…. “
Jokic historically is 1-4 in 50 point games (after last night) so it’s not like there’s no basis for it
Ty Lue might be the worst coach in nba history.
“He plays like a guard when Zu was on him”
perfect summary of this dude. he is a 7 foot chubby strong bastard, yet can do things like a classic SG would. unicorn.
“Our gameplan was to challenge one of the most talented scorers alive to score. And he scored. He really scored”
This is a very smart move.…. NOT
My first question to my brother when he told me Jokic scored 55, was “And the Nuggets lost right?” Historically that’s the case
So I get the strategy.
Lue had the right approach. His roster is a mess.
I get it. It sound crazy but if think about it that strategy has actually worked a lot. Jokers greatest skill is. His passing and how he elevates his teammates
In his defense, you can’t really make him pass, either, cause he’ll kill you that way too.
Coaches have been using this strategy for years against great players. Let them operate without getting the other guys involved.
The difference with the really great players is they just go off for career scoring nights when they realize what you’re doing.
It’s not a bad plan. But when he starts shooting the lights out, you gotta adjust and make him pass it. The guy didn’t just get 55, he did it shooting insane splits and had almost all those points after 3 quarters.
If you can’t adjust as a coach during a game and help your team by identifying trends and offering ways to take away what’s working for the other team, you’re not a good head coach. Making schemes and plans that you want to start with is great, but you can get that from assistants.
Your plan against the best player on earth is to make him score?
Great Job Ty, very cool
This has been used by multiple teams effectively against the Nuggets it prevents his teammates from getting into any rhythm. Wears jokic down as well. Its literally a running joke among nuggets fans that they lose when he scores 50+
Genuinely the best strategy for the nuggets is to leave his teammates open so he passes to them and hope they miss
the “depth” (Bruce, JV, Cam) the Nuggets got from trading MPJ had a total of 12 points and all had a negative +/- in a Nuggets win lol
Cam has been atrocious shooting this year
This is Jokic’s first career win while scoring 50+ so clearly it’s worked so far for many teams