[Lowlights] Nikola Jokic “Defensive” tape in Game 3 vs the Minnesota Timberwolves — Wolves relentlessly attacking, targeting, and hunting him on every possession
he just doesnt jump. he can clearly get at least some lift (evidenced by that dunk by Rudy in Game 2).
but he just doesnt bother jumping when he’s the low man protecting the rim
That’s a skill, look at Tim Duncan at age 38 with one knee being an elite rim protector
He has awful timing on jumps and contests, he simply doesn’t know how to
There’s amazing athletes who are awful rim protectors because they simply have no clue how to defend and have awful timings, Jokic is an awful athlete and has awful timing
Even Gobert doesn’t have a crazy vertical, just that monster wingspan. Vertical isn’t a prerequisite for being a good defender unless you’re under 6’9”
Chet is an example of average athlete for his size with amazing timing. Wemby above average, amazing timing. Both having the length they do helps of course. Derek White would be great athlete, otherworldly timing.
I mean Chet is a great athlete for his size, he can move his feet like basically a forward and has a 7’7’ wingspan
Jokic has none of that
I should’ve specified average athlete for an nba player. He’s not exceptionally twitchy or fast or bouncy. Just fundamental with good awareness and timing
Isn’t “above average” and amazing kinda different?
I’m not sure White is a great athlete, his timing is insane though. It’s not like you see White hitting his head on the rim.
Wtf you talking about lmao his elite timing is literally the only reason he’s so good at rebounding. He has no business outrebounding half the athletic centers in the league but his timing and touch are so good he’s leading the league. He just doesn’t bother protecting the rim most of the time
I know fans can get brain dead but saying rebounding timings are the same as contesting people at the rim is another level of brain dead
Best rebounders are positional strong players, Kevin Love was a 6’8 270 sloppy white boy with 1 inch vertical and was one of the best rebounders, it has nothing to do with contests lmao
Do you think that Sabonis an amazing rebounder somehow has great contesting and rim protection?
Not jumping to protect the rim is going to help with rebounding position.
Yes cause the NBA in 2026 is exactly the same as it was in 2013-2014
Anyone who thinks Jokic has a timing issue isn’t living in reality.
At the rim? It absolutely is lmao
I didn’t say Tim Duncan was stepping out and switching onto guards and guarding them i said he protected the rim at an elite level even with one knee and 1 inch vert
You have no nuance of basketball and it’s probably because you’ve never played.
Everything you do in basketball has an effect on something else. This isn’t a one dimensional game where you have one job on a court/field. So having a center being hunted on switches would in fact have an effect on his rim protection. He’s having to travel more distance there fore tiring himself out quicker. Also when a center is stuck on a guard he can’t contest shots at the rim.
But that’s besides my point because even something like the 5 out offense that pretty much every team runs makes it easier to get into the paint. And guess what that also affects rim protection. If you put 38 Tim Duncan in today he’d he benched 6 minutes into the first quarter
Redditors need to stick to giving advice on video games not sports they be picked last in
Edit: since he wants to reply and blocked me.
The small ball heat with a starting PG of Mario fucking Chalmers is his example. He didn’t even play them at 38. Dudes comparing apples to oranges cause he’s never touched a rock in competition
My guy Tim Duncan played against the fucking small ball Miami Heat with 5 guys who can shoot and play
Youre acting like he played in the 70s, gtfo
Why jump when you can pray they miss and wait for the rebound if they do? Keeps the RPG up for those juicy triple doubles
Half of those he’s starting to turn to the rim before the shot goes up..
I saw like one play where he even showed like a 3-5 inch vert, wtf lol
Because the possibility of him getting in foul trouble is much worse for Denver than him giving up a bunch of layups.
You don’t need great verticals to be a great rim protector. Dude is already 7 feet tall with 7’ 3” wingspan. Sure it would help if he bothered jumping but he does not even raise his arm half the time. Dude you have 9 feet 4 inches of standing reach at least use that if you are not going to jump but he ends up being 7 feet traffic cone instead.
Obviously the rim protection is pretty terrible but my god, their guards don’t move their feet well at all. Their screen navigation is terrible, the Timberwolves make one move and they instantly have the defender on their hip with a lane to the hoop, and they also don’t switch well and always seem to be confused about who they’re supposed to be guarding. Yes, a great rim protector would cover for some of these deficiencies and Jokic seemingly not being willing to try is a huge problem, but even a great rim protector would struggle with how little resistance there is on the perimeter.
Besides for clowning on AG, McDaniels had a point. Jokic, Murray, Cam, etc are all bad defenders
Those things you mentioned were also true last year with a different coach. I remember a Nets vs Nuggets game last year where the Nets looked way better driller and and aware of how they were supposed to play on D. The defensive IQ of this roster is bad and the coaching isnt smoothing any of that over
Yeah, Jokic is getting all the attention but they aren’t containing anybody on the perimeter
If you go back to Gobert’s time with the Jazz, you could see the same thing. “Gobert is getting played off the floor by these small lineups!” and the problem was that none of the Jazz’s perimeter players could stay in front of anyone. And that was Rudy, who’s one of the greatest defenders in the history of the league. Jokic had no shot at all with what Murray, Johnson, Hardaway et al gave him in game 3.
100% this. Rudy got all the blame for that loss to the clippers but I always thought Rudy was getting screwed by having to make up for the perimeter defense being so bad
I think McDaniels may have been on to something
It’s not just his lack of rim protection. When they put Jokic in the PNR it’s also a nightmare.
He cannot move his feet laterally at this level. If I were Minny, I see no reason to go away from putting him in PNR hell
His pnr defense is good. Its not 2017 lol
Which explains why Minny is hunting his ass every time he’s on the floor? It’s not just the free layups and dunks he gives up that’s the problem
The fat slow white dude actually can move his feet! Lmao
His pnr defense definitely isn’t good, but it’s sometimes passable.
Part of the problem here is that in a lot of these examples he’s not even part of the pnr defense, he’s dropped so far under the basket that it’s a 2 v 1 up top.
The defender will go over and it will lead to a straight line drive at Jokic or they go under and there’s a wide open 3. I get that they are scared to bring Jokic up, but it’s not working.
They should bring him all the way up and try to get him involved. He’s been okay at times switching because he’s so big that he’s hard to dribble around and shoot over.
His pnr defense is not good, but his rim defense is really really awful, so choose the former over the later.
Its not about if they hunt him all teams hunt missmatches its how easy they get that missmatch with way how denver plays eith rotation and guards defending and navigating blocks its no effort
It’s everyone BUT Jokic’s fault!
Exactly. Denver cant consistently get into the paint on offense meanwhile every trip guys are in paint on d
But whenever it’s against the Lakers, the Nuggets especially Murray play like it’s a damn Game 7 of the Finals
Murray played that way for like one series against them. And he should have with them relying on a Reaves-Dlo backcourt 💀
Gobert is such a good screener. He has very little he can do with the ball, but he’s a willing and intelligent screen setting big. Makes up for some of the offense a team loses by having him on the floor. Just the variety of screens he sets, his ability to screen and then rescreen or seal a defender from coming over to help is really solid.
You can tell who knows ball and who doesn’t by their opinion of Rudy Gobert.
Being a Gobert fan who has never left his side for many many years is one of my favorite things to flex these days
Rudy was the best defensive player in the league for a long long time until Wemby got here and now Rudy is “just” the clear second best still
I believe he was first in screen assists during the regular season. First in put-back points as well.
I’m glad D-Wade and Candice Parker gave Rudy lots of credit for his great screening last game that lead to buckets.
Fr. He’s really not an offensive negative at all like some people claim, just usually a negative with the ball in his hands. But even he was cooking Jokic last game in the post
The screening is good but he’s been pretty good overall offensively this series because Jokic is sucked so far under the basket that he has room to operate. He has a couple good DHOs and there are a couple times in the clip above that the guy he’s screening stays glued so he just drives to the basket.
Part of the screening being so good is because Jokic is so far away from that action. The defender on the Nuggets is going over and getting way behind the play and then it opens up a one-on-one drive for the dribbler and Jokic.
It’s not a great option but I think just having the defender stay under on the screen and then bringing Jokic up a little more would prevent the easy drive. You are going to give up 3s but pick your poison.
Tbh I’d probably have Jokic come all they way up and switch some. His lateral quickness is bad but he’s hard to get around because he’s so large and he’s had some success poking balls away. His lateral quickness stands out the most when a guy is coming at him at full speed on a drive so why drop him all the way down under the basket and have guys going at him at full speed the whole game?
Zero pride shown. They’re hunting you and you just take it lying down
He really needs to bounce back on game 4 because this is horrible to watch from a 3x MVP.
And supposedly best player in the world
better then u tho, lol get a life
The hell? lmao
All I see are perimeter defenders letting their guys blow by at full speed. Jokic isn’t going to catch bodies in midair. Need better perimeter D.
Their perimeter defenders are also not good. It would be nice to have the 7 footer at least pose a threat behind them
This isn’t Serbia.
The only 2 things I can think of are:
Otherwise, yeah, that was ROUGH
He’s secretly hurt or sick or something
This is so common with athletes that I’ve learned to check myself immediately whenever I’m about to conclude “they had a terrible game.”
And it’s usually best not to broadcast nagging injuries, else the opponent will quite likely target you.
Injured or healthy, he’s one of the worst centers defensively in the playoffs.
They would hunt him regardless I think
Sure, but I was talking to the perception about having a particularly bad game. Not just him, but any player.
Some missed bunnies in this clip too. That could’ve been a lot worse.
Yo that post movie Rudy hit to get it to 63 was nice as fuck though!
It’s actually nice that the misses were included too, gives a better idea of how he was constantly hunted.
Stan Van Gundy says he’s a very good defender by the way lmao biased ass
I’m sorry, I’ve been told for years now that he’s a good defensive player, actually.
same way laker fans will say luka is a good defensive player
sure they will have moments of good defense, but good teams will hunt him when they are on offense
the finals vs celtics is the perfect example and is often forgotten, he got screened into an iso damn near every possession
Only during arguments of whos shtter on defense? Him or Luka.
But yeah, the answer is that they are both equally sht.
jokic is worse because his defense is more impactful
Jokic is better than Luka on a consistent basis. One series against the Wolves don’t mean sht, Like Luka when he got hunted by Boston to get swept in the Finals.
Luka has more bad defensive games than Joker.
In a different series, he would actually contest these layups and shots in the paint?
Yeah, that’s why he’s a 3x MVP, champion and FMVP.
You think he get all that playing this kind of defense every game? LOL.
Gotcha. So it’s because of the opponent he’s playing that he decides it free layup time. For the entire game and series
The only offensive threat of Mavericks that was even slower than usual because of injuries was hunted. Oh, wow, how original. The laziest argument ever.
How do you know that Luka has more bad defensive games? Your “eye test” is not a good argument. So another empty claim.
Bad rim protector will always be a bigger problem for the team defence than defensively weak guard. Jokic teams have never had a good defensive rating because of him while Luka teams did. I wonder why. Maybe because it is really hard to hide C.
Only reason people argue with obvious is because Jokic has a championship that does heavy lifting for his image and Gordon who masks a lot of Jokic weaknesses. When Gordon cannot play Jokic always looks worse.
3rd in the NBA in DPBM. Gobert is 44th
There’s no way the advanced stats would lie to us!
https://craftednba.com/player-traits/defense
I’m sorry I heard he was better than lebron james
We should be entitled to financial compensation from these podcast bros
You are spamming this thread so much, you actually might be.
Jokic apologists down bad 😂
You’ll be back soon calling him best in the world next year
https://www.np.reddit.com/r/timberwolves/s/nyfKxiRhef
Ayo’s shot chart goes crazy
Ant Edwards “I just be beating shit in the paint”
Ayo’s downhill game is the best in the league. That speed + finishing is incredible. And most of his finishing at the rim is layups and more finesse than brute force dunking.
I miss Ayo man fuck. He was our homegrown dawg
my man looking like James Harden in a bigger body
I’m convinced Jokic can’t jump
It’s intentional. If Jokic jumps to contest the shot in the paint, he’s out of position for rebound, and Gobert has an easy put back dunk in half of these clips
The root cause is that Nuggets defenders are being beat on a string 1:1. If you can’t shade angles, Jokic is in a true 1:2 situation
Lmao. How many other 7 footers in the NBA give up free layups like this? The idea that it’s some master strategy and not him being lazy and unathletic is lame.
He’s getting exposed.
Jokic isn’t trying and even when he does try he’s a below average defender. But I also don’t think there’s anywhere near as many 7 footers in the NBA who are as central to their offense as he is. I don’t really agree with the rebound strategy stuff but if he picks up a few fouls he’s putting his team at an even bigger disadvantage. I almost want Jokic to just go ham on the defensive effort for a game and rack up 4 fouls by the half and see how that affects Denver’s game overall. They deadass might be even more cooked than him just giving up layups.
For some of the baskets that is true. But I saw a few where gobert wasn’t in a position to get the offensive board and Jokic still didn’t jump to contest.
The salt in this thread is crazy lol
MVP debates have turned into such a cancer for the sport
Joker haters been real quite all season as he puts up Wilt numbers, but the shots aren’t falling and they all come out
This did happen to Wilt funnily enough.
FYM, nephew? Whenever people criticize him his glazer brigade just comes out in full force to attempt to change reality. Now you can’t anymore because all the people with eyes have been exposing him all at once.
Chokic is a statpadder and good offensive player. Atrocious defender and at times even a net negative for his team. That doesn’t happen to the best player in the world, Shai.
One thing is to get beat but man is not even trying on defense out there.
Bro looking like Audi Crooks out there
The funniest part about this is how the wolves started struggling to score a bit when he was on the bench in the 4th. As soon as he touched the floor they put the game away
Same thing happens with sengun
Players always switching to sengun for an easy bucket
Is he using so much energy on offense than he can’t jump? Like why isn’t he jumping for any blocks whatsoever? I’m dumbfounded. I’m not even talking shit, like I’m just wondering why
If that’s the case, I wonder why guys like Shai and Ant are able to expend energy on both ends of the court.
I see no reason why I shouldn’t have this expectation from the supposed best player in the world. He gets to save his energy for offense all game? Fuck that
I don’t know lol that’s why asking. Is he just not athletic or mobile enough? I’m wondering if it’s an effort thing, or he just can’t. But didn’t he dunk the other day. Like if he has a 10 inch vert, even that has to be better than letting guards go right at you uncontested
Gotta save energy for that sweet sweet rebound. In all seriousness, maybe he’s still feeling that knee injury
I think I know the answer. Some athletes work harder than others.
In the case of the NBA it means because of that work they put in off the court; they can play both offense and defense without this being a discussion at all.
Being big just has less stamina
He is the reason for their great offense. So not having energy to also be great on defence is hard to come by. He also isnt the most athletic of dudes out there. It could also be he is afraid of gettin defensive fouls when he is such a big part of their offense.
As for Ant abd SGA. Ant is good occasionaly, he is bad offball, and he also plays with Rudy behind him so he can play more aggresive. If Rudy is not on the court they are awfull defensivly.
Good theory on the foul calls thing! Appreciate you.
Woof.
Thats what the warriors did in 22. Just constantly attack Jokic on D, especially on the perimeter.
This is disgusting to watch. Jokic is making Gobert look like an offensive threat.
I can’t stress enough how easy it is to go in for the drive when you literally know ahead of time Jokic isn’t even going to leave his feet to contest your shot.
Avoiding fouls is the argument - what’s the advantage in that if you’re avoiding Wins with that strategy?
Nothing makes me happier than seeing Jokic choke in the playoffs. Dude wishes he wasn’t up against KG
bro just gives up everytime he sees a pick. It’s drop coverage, and I get it, but man Minny is torching them for it. The guards aren’t helping either tbh.
The ones that are horrible are the ones where Jokic doesn’t step up to contest a 3. There were several
Most of the others highlight how awful the Point of attack defense by the nuggets. You have to be able to shade angles if you are 1 on 1. Getting beat in a straight line creates a 2 on 1 with Gobert being tall enough to be an easy lob threat. Every defender in the league is at a disadvantage
“I won’t for vote for Luka for MVP because he doesn’t play defense. Instead I will vote for defensive juggernaut Nikola Jokic.”
Is this your king?
He has just not even been trying to protect the rim, wtf is going on? He doesnt even contest?
Some nice Gortat screens by Gobert.
is this yall king?
No offense but this is an insane title. Basically none of this is “targeting and hunting” jokic. Outside of like 3 plays where jokic doesn’t contest on the screen, this is just a highlight video of a team with terrible perimeter defenders. We all know jokic isnt a rim protector but hes a good help defender, and turns out theres nothing to help when your perimeter defenders cant move their fucking feet at all.
Damn wolves were aggressive at the rim this game. Not sure I’ve seen a team attack like that in recent years
Jaden didnt lie, he coulda said it nicer but our game plan HAS to be attack joker in the paint on repeat.
I think Jokic is bored of basketball so he’s going to do the first 0-3 comeback
I’m here for the Jokic defense slander, but I think he’s pretty injured still and they been missing Gordon tbh
Good thing Jokic has never bounced back in a playoff series his whole career…
I don’t wanna hear anybody who tries to call people who put him 3rd in MVP voting stupd.
Shai > Wemby >> Jokic >> Luka in that order.
Lol this woman ragebaits and glazes sga so much it’s almost funny. No ones building a franchise around sga.
Someone just did and got a championship, odd bol.
Lol fake chip, the extender and the injury were the reason you guys won. Shoutout caruso for hacking jokic and refs who got rich off of okc.
Keep whining about it, while he’s holding the real thing. He’ll do it again, and you’ll cry again. LOL.
Lol good luck his game is unsustainable, his team is reaping cba benefits is all. You win 1 ring and you lot are already insufferable.
Doesnt need to sustain when he’s already got 2 MVPs, 2 championships, 2 FMVPs and Clutch Player of the Year. Lol.
Some player play 8 years and still got none of any of that.
Lol nba is a joke he’s never been THE mvp candidate, his team is inflating his stats and his defense is overrated.
The only reason he’s mvp is cuz of team record, his efficiency is jackshit cuz his misses are called for fouls.
Will be interesting to see if refs don’t put it all on okc and start doingtheirj job.
He doesn’t need to be THE mvp candidate to hold 2 MVP trophies in your face. Lamer. That makes his MVP more valuable since there’s actually competition.
His team record is the only metric in his favour. Okc get a favourable whistle on both ends,
sga gets more ft than entire teams and defensively they get away mauling and injuring players.
Maybe start by watching neutral games.
The Thunder did. Worked out well for them
Not really, the refs were biased and the hali injury was their saving grace. There is no world where I’m picking sga as my franchise player, I’d rather have tatum over sga anyday (pre injury)
who cares what you would do, you’re the sport equivalent of a flat earther, zero brain and zero credibility
Lol who cares he says and comments
why wouldn’t i ? you’re a flat earther moron, it’s always good to remind you to stay in your place
Dear diary
this would apply more to you, your braindead GM fantasy and your conspiracy theories
Ohh I can’t wait for these finals. You’re not going to like what you see
Oh It’s going to get interesting for you alright.. Good luck watching okc games, they’re a joke and not worth spending time over one sided whistles.
Ironic a curry fan saying this but oh well..
He will be back, I promise you.
Jokic is like Goku. All you’ve done is unlock him
So instead of riding horses, maybe he works this offseason the way we expect other athletes to do?
Improve in the areas they need to get better in. But hey! It’s Jokic look how cool he looks on those horses!
Man 😭 u raw asf ngl, shout out you 😭
Holy cornball.
Why does everyone here hate Jokic so much? Like honestly it is peculiar. Tf did Jokic do? For full transparency I’m a Bulls fan
If this is your read on nba reddit, you may have an eyesight problem
Yeah i mean i don’t spend 4 hours a day here during the regular season, have been more active during the playoffs. I remember reddit liking Jokic in the past which is why I was surprised. There have been like 8 of these Jokic lowlight montages filled with jokic hate in the last 2 days alone
That’s not many considering it’s the playoffs and he’s playing the worst playoff series of his prime so far, plus the threads themselves aren’t that heavily upvoted.
We demand our athletes, especially superstars that are supposedly best in the world, to actually try during the game.
Maybe these are just American sporting standards idk.
Well now that he understands your demands I am sure things will adjust tonight. Stupid ass way to look at life, enjoy the greatness
Lmao. Yes these are just my expectations. Look around at the commentary about this guy. He’s getting exposed and I don’t see it changing tonight
“Look around at the commentary about this guy”
Why would I do that when I can just watch an exceptional and unique basketball player
Best in the world too right?
Can’t play on one half of the court but is also the best in the league 🤡
He must be really good on Offense then. Ironic coming from a Dubs fan, was Steph never the best player in the league then? Or did his 1.7 steals a game mean he was actually a plus defender
Are you referring to four time NBA champion, Steph curry? Lmao
There’s no world where LeBron, MJ or curry are ever in the same sentence with Jokic.
It’s all downhill from here starting with tonight
Im referring to your untrue statement that you have to be an elite two way player to be the best player in the league.
I also love Steph but there is no world where Steph is in the same sentence as MJ and Lebron lmao. Your bias is showing
lmao first day on the Internet? this dude is the most glazed and coddled superstar of all time. he gets all time praise without the backlash other stars do. this is just a correction
The participation of these posts swings based on who it is and if it’s a high or low light.
Jokic has a ton of fans and stans on this sub and gets a lot of praise but everyone has haters. Like just hypothetically, say he has 30% fans/stans, 60% are neutral, 10% haters.
If it’s a lowlight 100% of those haters are going to show up and the vast majority of his fans are going to ignore it (maybe downvote it. Like this post probably won’t get a ton of up votes). The few that do are going to be downvoted, because if you come into the thread arguing that he’s actually not that bad of a defender and he’s not been that bad this series, you are going to get downvoted even by neutrals.
So yeah, he’s having a bad series so a lot of hate posts that his fans aren’t engaging with.
Same thing happens to SGA, but SGA just has more haters than fans in this sub. This sub was really positive towards SGA for the first half of this season but especially in the playoffs, that toxicity has come back. You’ll see a questionable foul call in his favor get thousands of upvotes and hit the top of the page where a great play will be lucky to get a couple hundred. And narrative with neutral fans get created from that.