Jokic tonight: 40 PTS | 8 REB | 13 AST | 3 BLK | 0 TOV | +14
https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401810985
13-25 FG
Zero turnovers is crazy
3 blocks isn’t too bad as well for a cone
He was very good defensively honestly
The last few minutes was his best defense since the chip lmao
he’s never been bad defensively. he just doesn’t ever try.
Honestly I think hes scared of fouling out or gassing himself, since hes such an important piece.
Nah just conserving energy for offense imo
Yeah basically, doesnt want to gas out early. I wonder if he got fit if he would get better or worse lol
I mean, he plays high minutes as the main focal point of the offence. Would Wemby be as effective on defence with the same offensive load? Who knows
Joker has the most minutes played in a playoff game doesn’t he?
You just repeated what he said lol
Didn’t see the gassing out part
You r right
That’s what they said
Having watched him in a playoff series, this is one of the truest things I’ve seen on here. Jokic can be a decent defender but it’s usually an effort thing
And you cant really blame him, he’s literally the Nuggets offense
It also depends on how refs call games. If little guys are allowed to hang on him all game then he naturally is gonna get tired more quickly.
If he’s in a big vs big matchup. Where refs are more adjusted to what they know what to call. Then Jokic has more energy for defense.
Jokic plays a lot of match ups in his head. He ain’t just out there playing ball. He knows how important he is to the team. And ultimately he’s only thinking about the W and how to get it.
OKC is a mess to deal with because they have both elite rim protectors and they know that they get away with free fouling Jokic with little guys. Him still being so dominant against you is literally GOAT level stuff.
He might never get the titles to be recognized as the GOAT but as far as talent and impact goes. I have seen none greater than Jokic.
His defense looks gangly when he gets blown by but his defensive understanding of the game means his defensive is better than a lot of people think.
He doesnt have flashy recoveries and highlights which is where people get their views from, but in terms of overall effectiveness he’s probably mid-average
Wemby made him try
testament to wembys greatness
He’s a straight up really good defender when he wants to be
Always has been
It was a masterclass in the 4th and OT. I knew the Nuggets had the game when he shutdown that alley-oop the spurs had on a fastbreak late in OT
I think that was more of a spurs mistake than jokic but yeah he was everywhere on defense
I’d imagine it was a little bit a both. Jokic wasn’t going to be blocking the play if the Spurs executed the alley-oop perfectly, but just sensing a seven-foot contest coming at you out of the corner of your eye, no matter how much of a defensive cone said seven-footer usually is, is going to negatively affect your ability to catch a ball at full speed and put it down. I think Jokic played this one-on-two defense as well as anyone could without actually getting his hands on the ball.
Best defense he’s played since coming back from injury imo. Moved well & had really great anticipation on a few key plays
Big Honey Cone
he’s a really big cone!
Played like it was a playoff game. I wish Watson was healthy. West playoffs will still be cinema but they’ll need the whole squad to beat OKC
I mean it’s over 3 times his career average so let’s not get carried away with the snark
i think he had only 1 full court pass when CB was very open, post-injurt he really was getting like 1.5-2 turnovers from forcing those passes
in a game that went to OT too, shit is unreal
Definitely the most impressive thing about it to (aside from the shot over Wemby) especially so when you consider how ball dominant he was this game and how good the spurs guards are at stealing the ball. He was extremely composed the whole game
the most impressive stat. the amount of times he’s had to make a play on the ball the whole game and 0 turnovers? amazing
and this folks is why despite everything we say he is the BEST player in the world and the MVP
Those shots he hit over Wemby in OT were sick
The arc on that one floater was insane. Genuinely unguardable even for Wemby.
Yeah he’s kinda the best person to go against Wemby with his shots already being high arcing af.
He plays by far the best when guarded by Wemby of any player and it’s not even slightly close. He actually plays better against Wemby than he does against anyone else. It’s a perfect matchup for him. Jokic is guarded best by swarms of ultra athletic strong guards and wings like Caruso and Cason and Jalen Williams
Only because Wemby guards him ethically while the refs let the latter get away with murder
yeah dude’s forgetting how much shit caruso was getting for mauling Jokic’s arms lol. Refs let the little guy play way to physical just because they’re smaller
i am still mad about that “Jokic stopper” bs they called Caruso….
This is why people say the Refs control the outcome of the games. If you give Caruso all the fouls he was committing on Jokic the game would have surely ended up a different way.
Wemby played fair today, was a great battle to watch. This is the basketball i like to watch. Not the shit they are serving up when one player is allowed to maul another and the refs swallow their whistle because its “physcial defence”.
I wish there was a balance of 1st and 2nd half reffing this game. Hurt spurs spacing late and caused us to miss more 3’s than we normally do. Still a awesome game, and seems like spurs nuggets conference semi’s (somewhat sadly for my hopes of making theconference finals lol). I hope we get 7 games of these 2 squads man, such a damn fun weird reffing aside.
Getting away with egregious amount of fouls is the best defense after all.
(Guards are allowed to foul him)
He shoots from behind his head like Larry Bird.
Played sneaky good defense in the second half and it changed the game.
he was good on that end all game long he even guarded fox on the perimeter on multiple possessions
I don’t watch too many nuggets games but I feel like I’ve been lied to. I’ve seen people on this app say he’s the worst defender in the league lol
It’s because he’ll too often let guys finish uncontested at the rim trying to avoid the fouls. He does overdo it at times. But the rest of his D is pretty great. I think giving guys layups just looks really bad, so people ignore the rest which he’s great at. Jokic contested much more today especially in that 2nd half where he had really great rim contests.
I definitely saw that a few times this game where it looked like he “wasn’t trying” when the Spurs managed to cut onto the backside of him for a layup. But honestly, when you’re the conduit for your team’s offensive production is it worth expending your energy on prayer blocks?
That’s much different than Harden’s heyday where he’d let guards blow right by him.
Oh yeah. It’s not even comparable. Jokic is actually a good defender. Harden is Harden.
I think there’s also the white/nonathletic factor. Athleticism, of the running and jumping kind, is overvalued by casuals. No one seems to care about lateral movement, communication, good hands, nearly as much.
The “bad defender” narrative should have died years ago. It’s absolutely true that he is a bad rim protector but he’s one of the best in the league at playing passing lanes and is one of the smartest defenders in the league. The real thing that I think he’s sneaky good at on defense is guarding guys 1 on 1 from the perimeter. When he’s already in the paint and someone gets downhill full speed he’s not gonna contest well, but if he starts on an island against someone he’s honestly pretty solid
His best defensive skill is rebounding which is an underrated part of defense
he also orchestrates the entire defense.
He’s the entire Nuggets offense so he also can’t be too aggressive contesting since he needs to avoid foul trouble
His defensive effort is variable and he’s cautious not to get into foul trouble but he can definitely be a good defender. After this game is probably one of the rare times you can call him a good defender and not get downboted
trust me it hurts to watch when hes not dialed in, he just has a habit of playing down to worse teams.
People watch lowlights of him not giving a fuck against Jazz or Wizards.
Trust me he turned it up for y’all. He was the worst defender in the league against some of the shitty teams we were playing but tonight is why that didn’t worry me. He’ll show up like this in the playoffs every game.
What? R/nba lied to you?! Well, I’ll be.
Those people don’t know ball. Joker is an average defender in the regular season but turns it up a notch to above average in high stakes games.
Jokic’s skills are different from every other big in this league. He’s a point guard in a centers body. He thinks the game better than he physically dominates it and it means that he is usually in a good position defensively and understands the best way to move his guys around to get the most out of them. He’s physically average or slightly below average but his ability to understand coverages and what teams are doing is elite. Listen to Ant talk about him. He knew their play before they even started running it.
Watch the games and enjoy them. Ignore Reddit takes.
Jokic Wemby matchups will be amazing and heartbreaking. Enjoy it while it lasts
He can be pretty fucking bad when he plays bad teams, but it’s 95% an effort thing
he doesn’t try at times and only step it up against the big boys
A big issue for Denver is they have zero point of attack defenders so when guards inevitably blow by a guard jokic usually stands no chance at stopping a lay up when someone drives in space vs him.
Also a lot is effort with him and not wanting to give away fouls as early foul trouble for him is far more detrimental than 2 points given up. In big match up like today you see a giant difference in engagement on the defensive end from him that he unlikely can hold up 82 times a year.
Tbf he does tend to take the defensive side off a lot through the regular season, he certainly is not a bad defender when he is locked in.
He’s not a good rim defender, and the rest of the Nuggets are generally awful at stopping penetration. So he’s left in a position where he can pick up the foul by trying or put up a passive attempt to stop the ball.
His baseline level of effort and focus this year has been lower than in any of the last five years. Reasonable criticism has been warranted. People will conflate “he can’t defend at all” with “he is playing bad defence.” And, of course people also want to push agendas.
I’m one of the biggest Jokic defenders. He has played some of the worst defense of his career after coming back from the injury and was clearly disinterested at times. He has always had these bad stretches during random regular season games but this is the worst one I’ve seen.
Worst in the league was always hyperbole, his defensive rebounding alone gives him a baseline value above that even when hes not trying that hard.
Nikola Jokic over the past 6 years, is as good as any player has ever been in that stretch of time on the offensive end. And you could easily make the case that nobody has been this incredible at offense.
Still the best player in the league.
The only player that comes close is 2016 Curry, and TBH, I don’t really think it’s close enough to be debatable. Jokic is a perfect offensive player.
i mean that michael jordan guy was pretty fuckin good from like 87-93
He’s the GOAT impactful player. He might end up with the highest career plus minus ever and he never chased superteams. He wasnt blessed with a great squad like Tim Duncan from the start.
He just dominates. Bad teams early in the career? Still dominated his minutes. Injuries to his 2nd and 3rd best player? Still wins.
Other teams/stars start losing hard. Lebron, Curry and Luka didnt even make the playoffs when their teams started to struggle a bit. Jokic casually took the 6th seed with Campazzo, Will Barton, Austin Rivers and A. Gordon as his starting lineup. The bench was so bad that Jokic had to basically be +20 in every game to win.
We ain’t ever seeing another Jokic.
Brother, LeBron got 3 Finals appearances playing with straight garbage. From 2011 to 2017, when he played without Wade or Irving, his teams played at a 59-win pace (66–25 record). The most impactful players to ever play are LeBron and KG by a good margin; they made horrible teams great and good teams all-time great.
And for your sake, don’t look at Jokic’s +/- in the playoffs.
Man, people are saying that Wemby defense if one of the best all time. I am inclined to agree, though I have no idea of previous NBA eras. Still, the best defense in the game today vs. the best offense. And all could see that Jokic didn’t struggle today offensively. Best offense won and it was beautiful to see
Western conference Playoffs gonna be real fun with Jokic, Wemby, and Shai. Would’ve been even greater with Luka but alas.
Don’t worry the King will carry you guys for one round before Luka returns.
Im hoping that we somehow get a Lakers vs Rockets first round. That would be fun to watch and I can see Lakers making it a competitive series even with the injuries
Adams and Vanvleet will both miss the playoffs right?
Yes
But then the winner would get absolutely boatraced by either OKC or SA.
I hope Denver and Minnesota don’t play each other so we can hopefully get a 2nd round of some combination of OKC, SA, Denver and Minny.
Lebron with the historic 30/10/10 triple double for a 41 y/o in Game 4 of the playoffs
Lakers lose the game 130-105 and get swept
How do you not include ANT lol he has been excellent in the playoffs and coming off b2b WCF
Because he’s not as good as those other 4. He’s great but definitely in the tier below them.
Luka’s not been that good vs high level competition this year.
Shit crazy asf, Jokic was a demon tonight
MVP.
he has my vote. sorry sga but Jokic is just that guy
Everybody is better than Jokic till it comes to play against Jokic.
The real MVP
BITW
6 years straight
But have you considered that he won 3 times already?
Some dude didnt win 4 times back in the 70s and some other dude didnt win 4 until he won 2 rings in the early 2000s so Jokic cant be the most valuable.
The mental gymnastics people make to not give Jokic an MVP is crazy.
He could have been if not for getting injured, but he couldn’t maintain his early play while recovering.
That’s the fucking MVP
Exactly. How the fuck is it even debatable.
The worst thing anyone on here ever says is “and it’s not even close” or “not debatable”. I’m cool with an argument for any of the top 4 guys cause they’re all having incredible seasons. But pretending it’s not debatable is just being intentionally obtuse, or naive of the level of basketball going on in the league between these guys..
Fr. All fanbases involved that do this “it’s not even debatable” shit are so annoying
I mean he should have never lost second spot to Wemby imo, but I cant have him over SGA considering SGA dropped 35 and 15 with zero turnovers and a game winner on him.
Thats one game though. Jokic leads in rebounds and assists while averaging 28 on great efficiency, that hasn’t been seen before. Shai is great but Jokic is historic
SGA is also haiving a historic season.
Highest point per possesion ever.
Highest TS% of a guard since Steph
Broke wilts 20 game streak.
And we’re seeing the best defensive season in at least a few decades. Lots of incredible play going on and it’s annoying that stans can’t at least recognize it.
As good as SGA is, its incredible how many of the Nuggets offensive possessions are a direct result of Jokic. With SGA(and most other great players) its more of an on/off were they are either the primary point of attack but if not they mostly a gravity well to let their teammates operate more effectively. Almost every nuggets play directly runs through/is orchestrated by Jokic even if he isnt the second or even third to last person to touch the ball. I think its impossible to make a real value comparison between fundamentally different players, its just that we’ve never really seen a player like Jokic, were as SGA is playing historically but in what is a relatively “conventional” playstyle for a superstar
Not sure why this matters for MVP. That is a multi-season streak, and speaks as much to SGA being lucky with injuries as anything else. It is impressive, but no one knew about that record before they dusted it off for a week of hype.
If Spurs won this game en route to contending for the 1st seed you would be singing a pretty different tune.
SGA’s probably winning it but Jokic has been outstanding!
Best performance of his post-injury season and there isn’t a close competitor
That okc vs nuggets game he was a monster as well
Much better defensively today imo, he didn’t really move his feet well against okc
Not like this though
That game felt like a full on playoff game. Give me 7 more of those.
Give me like 5 I can’t take anymore 7 game series
‘No Defence” Jokic blocking alley-oops in clutch
Joker peaking at that right time. This playoffs bout to get nasty.
Voter and fan fatigue is such a travesty. Jokic and LeBron would both have 5 MVPs
He should’ve gotten DRose MVP but that’s just me being bias
Rose led the Bulls to the best record in the NBA, personally being 62-19 in games played despite Noah missing 34 games and Boozer missing 23. Meanwhile Lebron left the Cavaliers to form a super team with another top 5 player in Wade and a top 20 player in Bosh, and the Heat only won 58 games (Lebron being 57-22) while Wade and Bosh combined only missed 11 games. Rose got 113 1st place votes that year. The Derrick Rose MVP was so uncontroversial at the time that Lebron didn’t even finish 2nd in MVP voting that season, Dwight Howard did.
It is straight up Lebron stan delusion to think Lebron should have won that MVP that year and any time somebody says it they are just announcing to the whole world they don’t know shit about basketball
Well that goes against my narrative, so I’m going to ignore this and be bias towards LeBron good sir/madam.
The term voter fatigue shouldn’t be as accepted as it is. It’s not about the actual top performing player in a given year and it’s just who has a good storyline and is popular that year.
LeBron never failed to get one that he should have won.
Absolutely true
the best in the world and don’t ever forget it
It’s honestly not even close. Giannis in his prime was comparable, but I’m not sure I’ve seen a single more dominant player since prime Shaq.
Jokic over the last 6 years has been the most dominant offensive player ever and I’d feel confident comparing him to any other player over that period of time.
2016 Curry is up there too
Still BITW don’t let the propaganda fool you
I will say it again ,When jokic is feeling it even god himself can’t guard him
a healthy Jokic is still the best player in the world by quite a margin
Statement game from Jokic. Basically saying fuck your MVP, I’m still the best in the world and it ain’t particularly close. What a player
We’re going to 150’s one of these games. Especially if Fox and Murray play better.
The semifinals will be crazy if you guys get the 3 seed.
His defense was damn near perfect come OT.
[removed]
What?
There is a fraud MVP keep saying him is better than Jokic until reality check yesterday
Who’s the fraud?
How many 83 points games though?/s
Look, just because you aren’t the best of all time, doesn’t mean you can’t be one of the best of all time. Comparing everyone to Bam will make it seem like everyone is out playing high school hoops.
Suck my dick, refs.
MVP
MVP!
Best player on the planet, don’t forget it
They said he was washed
What morons called Jokic washed lol
Maybe a hot take but individual player defense is overrated and this game is proof why defense doesn’t really belong in the MVP debate, good offense beats good defense and generational offense can beat generational defense
I mean Murray might be bad, but we should still give flowers to the best defender in the league Nikola Jokic.
People here acting crazy about the 0 turnovers when most of his turnovers are when he’s playing bored and dicking around
Best big man in the nba
Best player in the nba
“Modern Era Offensive Passing Big Man”…It’s a way to low key discount him or a way for the prejudiced cope with the reality they don’t like for whatever reason
Ridiculous!!!!!
How many turnovers?????
Mvp type shit
not gonna win MVP this year but still the best in the world, don’t forget it
0 turnovers is the sign of a guy who was in complete control of the game (even when it didn’t feel like it)
That Sombor Shuffle was absolutely disgusting shit
Jokic turned into gobert in ot im crying
Nikola Jokic is Victor Wembenyama father
He really is too lol he averages 37 ppg against him. Wemby is such a phenomenal defender though…
3 blocks, 0 turnovers and insane in the clutch, MVP
True MVP. Insane game impact.
When SGA had his 35⁄15 game with 0 turnovers it was 5k upvotes and people on Reddit were legit saying “iTs TiMe tO HaVe SoMe UnComFoRtAbLe cOnvErSatIoNs” and “ShAi LeGit ToP 3 EvEr”. Jokic has 40/8/13 with 0 turnovers and it’s basically crickets. People would be collectively losing their minds if SGA had a game like this.
But nope, just another pretty good game by the Joker1!!1!1
only 11 post about Jokic on the front page and crickets for his 15 fts
hm…
he should be2nd in game in mvp over wemby
“i’m a 3 time mvp myself” - jokic
Ladies and gentlemen….. we have a new number 2 guy!
Jokic first and SGA second?
He is the one
MVP > alien
Is it night time?
Sorry about that, I live in the UK so it’s nighttime for me.
Ge getting to final form
Wemby on Jokic is not the way man. Wemby in a roaming role is the key. Like KAT on Jokic then Gobert as roam. Well, Rui on Jokic then AD as roam. But Spurs just don’t have someone to body Jokic up. Maybe they can try Keldon then Wemby as roam.
13 assists & 0 turnovers. I’ve only done that in 2K like once this guy isn’t human.
My MVP
He and Wemby put on a show. Hope we see them play in the playoffs as the 2 vs 3 because that was fun!
Jokic is insane man. Sometimes you forget when you haven’t watched him in a while
He made it look so sexy
Monster game, Denver has a good shot at championship.
What a game!
Its early. Lets not forget we see the Spurs on the final day of the regular season in San Antonio so I expect them to come swinging hard
One. Of. A. Kind.
Over 4 years and 7 games Jokic has averaged 37/11/9 against Wembenyama. The last time he scored less than 40 against Wemby it was 2024 lmfao.
Same feeling I had watching Djokovic win Olympic Gold Medal vs young prime Alcaraz. Whole match, even when Djokovic was serving for match I was sure younger opponent is winning in no time. Wemby just looks so unstoppable sometimes.
Joker is amazing, what can anyone say? MVP (three of them, should be 4 or 5).
Victor and his Spurs would learn a LOT from a 7-game series going against Jokic and his Nuggets.
That’s the thing for me with the Spurs. You guys are ahead of schedule already. Even if you lose in round 2, if it is a 6 or 7 game series against us the season was still worth it because you got a real series against a former champion to learn what you need to do to improve.
Still best in the league when he is all the way right. Playoffs will be cinema with thunder, nuggets and spurs.
Mvp
Shheeesh
Zero Turnovers, 40 points, and actually a demon on defense in the second half. MVP
NBA assist totals lost all credibility after that post last week. Lord knows how many of these were actually assists.
Whenever he is short of a triple double because of rebounds it’s hella surprising.