[Highlight] The behind-the-back dime from Nikola Jokic at a new angle
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I feel like my arm would snap in half just from attempting something like this.
This goes straight into the top three passes of all-time for him, doesn’t it? Who cares that it was a meaningless game.
Can’t decide which one is better:
https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/rypnoj/highlight_nikola_jokic_top_3_passer_in_the_league/
That’s some sweet jam for sure, but that behind-the-back was sweeter than Yoo-Hoo.
https://i.imgur.com/68h2Mtj.jpeg
Both awsome but the one just now he literally puts it through 3 guys. Any one of them could have blocked it but nobody expected the pass. It actually goes within arms reach of 3 guys but they never expect him to try it.
Even when Magic made passes like this he had to visibly apply so much effort his whole body would torque, like it took all his strength to put that power into it.
Jokic it’s just a flick of the wrist.
Hands down it’s the behind the back. You need a ton of strength to make that pass cross court like that in a way that doesn’t telegraph your pass. Hes essentially flicking his wrist to get it there which is impressive while maintaining accuracy. Most players and guards will be able to do that, but here’s the kicker. The passing lane passed under the rim so he couldn’t put arch. The trajectory needed to be low and direct. Which the harder you throw the more difficult to maintain accuracy and he did both. This is fucking sick. Downright diabolical.
Am I crazy to think thisight be top three passes all time from anyone? Like it was better than just insanely flashy - it was a super high degree of difficulty and right on the money.
There are some NBA players who would struggle to physically do this, much less think of it and execute perfectly.
Nash talked about how he could make this pass on target but he’d have to torque his body and give away the pass
Preseason or not, nobody else in the league makes that pass.
I’m imagining someone yeeting it into the 2nd tier seating
It feels crazy to say. But can anybody show 5 better? 3 better? It’s absurd.
This Rondo pass to Ray Allen.
NBA Street Vol. 2 shit
This is pretty crazy, Rondo was an elite passer.
Nice. But not as nice as this jokic one
God I love that pass and I love Rondo. It’s still not better than this one from Jokic though.
the announcer so casually says allen hits a 3 lmao
Great pass no doubt, but he was looking
demar derozan 360 pass. Dumars to Rodman. Peja transition pass. Marbury spin pass. Luka to Kleber. Teodosic against Milan.
There are plenty out there
Bird between the other guy’s legs
White chocolate behind his back and off his elbow
I’d add Derrick Rose’s double pump fake pass.
Eh. Few of those aren’t quite in the same class. Just my opinion though.
Dumars and Marbury nah. Peja might be #1. Luka and Tedosic are good competition, I’d still pick Joker.
And you didn’t even mention one Stockton, Williams, Magic, Maravich pass lol there’s so many
There were those crazy nutmegs from LeBron and Westbrook too but it’s unclear how intentional they were.
Dumars to Rodman.
So happy to see this one! It usually gets lost in the shuffle.
How are none of y’all listing jordan
I’ll nominate Peja’s behind the back pass from half court to Bobby Jackson on the fast break. Was going for a loose ball, took one look down the court, launched it behind the back without even having possession, goes over the Jackson’s defender and lands perfectly in front of him at the basket. Crazy.
Jokic’s was way higher difficulty
There’s a guy on every team in the NBA who can make the Peja pass.
There’s like 5-10 people EVER who can throw one like this.
Peja’s behind the back outlet pass maybe.
Yeah like I’m trying to think…maybe the elbow pass? Same class but even that seems easier and that was the all star game if I remember correctly. Rondo had some crazy fake lob to behind the backs, and his insane full court bounce passes. I think this has to be top 3 all time.
Manu’s snap pass off the bounce one handed to Bonner is one of my favorites but this is so insane.
Edit: the pass
Elbow pass is relatively easy to do if you practice it a bit, although to do it at nba speed in transition its obviously very impressive.
Please go watch some magic johnson highlights on YouTube
That’s what I’m saying. This is a great pass, but it’s just Tuesday for peak Magic.
Me starting to empathize with my dad when I talk(ed) about LeBron to his Jordan.
This is a sensational pass.
But top 5 OAT?
I think we’re just standing too close to the elephant at this point.
MJ to Longley no-look pass vs 3 Raptors. MJ to Pippen spin pass in transition vs Cavs.
Isn’t Luka’s behind the back pass over Wemby better than these mj passses? It’s probably not even top 5 either
I watched MJs whole career and remember none of these. His most famous pass is to Steve Kerr for a jumper.
no
Any from a Jason Williams highlights reel will be on par for sure https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8b0XbtpFsA
Bird has some passes similar to this, but I don’t think any are as impressive. Maybe they were in bigger moments.
I’m amazed this is the first mention of Bird but you are right. This makes Bird look like a big clumsy white guy.
jason williams probably had 5 alone. westbrook half court between the defenders legs
And he didn’t even cheat/look over once, looks like he saw him from when he originally caught the ball for that split second, incredible pass and awareness for sure
Checking the clip again he uses his peripheral vision to see if there are no defenders and sees Nurkic looking away/in front then flings the pass immediately.
To do that on the dribble without even stopping to gather the ball is nuts
I’ve been watching basketball for a long time. This instantly became the best pass I’ve ever seen in my life.
There are obviously great passes that happened in more important moments, but ignoring things like championship implications, I think this is the best pass of all time.
Seems like a Magic Johnson pass, though he was before my time watching basketball. This is as good as anything I’ve seen
“a long time” being a time when Julius Randle was in the league has me fucked up tbh
this so easily clears: https://sports.yahoo.com/lebron-james-casual-no-look-pass-fooled-everyone-lakers-024740362.html
While it is crazy, and it’s very much a top(some number) of all time, it’s not top-3 of all time. That’s such an insanely high bar, and while I know it’s getting at least somewhat of a downgrade because it’s a preseason game, ignoring that it’s in a preseason game is just as wrong.
Yeah for it to be top 3 all time while happening in a preseason game it would have to be something that literally does not seem physically possible for a human being to accomplish lol
Yeah preseason degrades it to top 10 probably.
Find 3 better passes and link them here
I would put this up there with the best passes I’ve ever seen in a long time watching basketball. The fact Larry Bird doesn’t even get mentioned in these conversations cracks me up. Or I don’t know, the all-time assist leader although I understand it.
But the only recent pass that comes close to me is this one by Luka. That one has almost identical degree of difficulty, maybe higher.
The fin pass itself isn’t crazy but I love [Haliburton going off the backboard to Siakam](
https://youtube.com/shorts/XnZFo-lsddg?si=ru1mTrJCVGqnBvGm), it’s just such a creative sequence.
Lol. No. I’m not taking the time to do that. This isn’t that serious if either of us can convince the other if this is or isn’t a top 3 pass all time. Nothing that happens in preseason is above anything that happens in a regular season or post season game, in my opinion.
I mean, the second one in this compilation is a personal favorite: I wouldn’t immediately say it’s better. But it’s during an in-season game. That probably has a few great ones the rest of the way, and it’s just Rondo.
https://youtube.com/shorts/83QUj4V_hfc?si=EvaY6z500-erxQHC
here’s 1
And cam made the shot. The most important part abt jokic passes
Lebron no look to Kyle korver (unfortunately vs the Lakers)
Had 2 dudes looking like bots out there
I have it at number 2. He did that insane manu baseline pass AS A BEHIND THE BACK.
The only thing I can think of that beats it is that 1 magic assist where he does like a no look bounce pass in transition in traffic between to defenders. I’m sure someone knows what I’m talking about but it’s a fucking insane pass.
I’m also just glad the shooter splashes the shot. I’ve seen these miss before and it feels so bad.
Im pretty sure that is the greatest pass Ive ever seen.
imagine if larry bird did this
Watch more highlights
Avg Tuesday for Larry
I can not think of any passes better than this ever.
Nah there’s plenty behind the back in transition full court passes that are better than this, this is just recency bias
I think a behind the back pass along the baseline past three defenders is tougher than a full court transition one
Agree to disagree
it’s easier to make any pass in transition than completely stationary
Nah, Magic would have several of these a season. It’s a great pass, but not top three all time.
No he didn’t.
Huh? Let’s see em
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The 3 guys it zips by are all tenured NBA starters too. Pack this in to the career highlight reel and no one’s going to know it’s a MeAnEnGlEsS gAmE
Svi is not close to being a tenured NBA starter, i think this is first time he’s spent two seasons in a row with the same team,, and Nurkic is slightly cooked, but still an insane pass. Lauri and Svi don’t even realize its happening until its too late, Nurkic actually kinda sees it and almost got a hand to it. Which kinda makes sense given his familiarity with Jokic.
There are a number of touch passes that I think are more impressive. Almost 0 time to process and still being coordinated enough to redirect the ball without holding it
The one last season behind Lopez’s head was my favorite of the season I think
The Nuggets version of Danilo Gallinari had a very similar pass to this but it was within a regular season game. His was a shorter distance, however the difficulty may have been higher because he had to stumble to save an overpassed ball and he got it into the Faried right under the hoop past 2 defenders
Spot on, each is harder for different reasons. Gallinari curved the ball, the path is like an arc
These aren’t even close, man. Danillo’s was less than half the distance and and far more off target.
Both of them had to slip it past defenders, but Jokic’s had to be powerful enough to slip it past a defender 3⁄4 of the way down the baseline.
Also, Danilo wasn’t stumbling, he already had his balance back.
Every NBA player can throw a pass behind their back. The difference (aside from the power it takes to go across the baseline vs. a small flip into the lane) is that Jokic couldn’t have placed it more perfectly if he walked over and handed it to Cam.
If Danilo’s were a baseline to baseline pass it would have been off by like 8 feet.
It’s amazing but he probably wouldn’t attempt it if the game wasn’t meaningless.
Exactly, this is an all-star/exhibition game pass. Amazing skill to pull it off but unlikely he attempts such a risky pass in a close and meaningful game.
Get rid of “for him”
I feel like he does stuff like this frequently. We just dont see the highlights every night so you forget.
He had a similar one to Bruce Brown that was insane but he bricked the three.
This is definitely one of the most beautiful passes I’ve seen. Jokic is so fun to watch play the game of basketball.
Magic is the only one I can think of because you need to be big and strong for this type of range.
Easily. Been watching for 30 years and never seen anything like this
It has to mean something, otherwise they wouldn’t be playing.
His handball experience really helped him develop into such an incredible passer.
right in the pocket, too. goldang.
He should do that all star challenge but only throw flashy passes
Actually such a great idea. Dunk contest but for passing
Skills challenge but even more fun
seams lined up
with zip
Casual, nonchalant, no look, behind the back, cross court, zip pass right into the shooting pocket.
behind the back is odee passing cross zips
No look too.
Gold Nugget
Imagine Cam misses that. Probably the final straw that would have gotten him traded lol
I’m actually disgusted by how good this is, not only the cavalier manner in which he trotted it out, but the fact it hit him in the pocket is just scandalous
its truly a work of art. this is like a Michelangelo sculpture being built on the court.
This is his handball experience through and through. This is how they throw the ball and pass it. Except the ball is much smaller, his ability to do it with a basketball is ridiculous.
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That’s literally one of the greatest passes of all time
And it flew past within arms’ reach of 3 defenders! Jeez!
He beat them with his mind. Any of them could have blocked it if they saw it coming. Actually insane pass.
Yeah in most sports you have to learn to read body language rather than ball watch to get to the next level. Jokic is giving absolutely nothing away here.
I’d be curious if a dumb middle schooler who’s just watching the ball might actually make a move on it lol
Funnily enough, his teammate is somehow ready for that pass.
And nobody is blaming the defenders for not blocking it. It was just an insane pass that would’ve fooled anyone.
Anyone with the space… go outside and try that pass with zero defenders. . Insane.
No it was Jazz defenders
He read their momentum shifted away from the baseline. Pretty nuts.
I just realized his timing was so precise that he had to have been thinking about it for a second because the moment the guy defending DeRozan moved off the baseline, Jokic made that pass. He knew that when DeRozan moved to the top of the key, his defender would stunt, call for a switch, then get back to Cam Johnson, and in that gap between the stunt and the get back, he made this pass.
Steve Nash said that he could’ve made that pass, but he couldn’t have done it while also hiding it from his own defender by keeping the ball below his hip and still getting the timing and the target so precise.
he figured it out at the 2 second mark, just a subtle glance
I don’t get to watch as much NBA as I would like, but does he ever try shit like this and just completely miss?
Here and there yeah but in general he’s pretty accurate.
The crazy thing is that if he misses you can almost always blame his intended target for moving too early.
But also cut them some slack because it’s often the kind of pass where you can be certain that 99.9% of NBA players would never even attempt it.
Like, I imagine that even teammates who have played with Jokic for a while have to consciously remind themselves sometimes that to expect a crazy pass at any moment.
Steve Nash was on the Zach Lowe podcast this week and they talked about this pass. Nash said he could probably do it in a couple of tries in an empty gym but without Jokic’s size it’d be almost impossible for someone with his build or even bigger modern guards to fool defenders like that. You literally can’t see it coming from a guy that big and strong, whereas Nash’s whole body would telegraph he was doing something wild and the pass would get picked.
I guess Nash and Lowe forgot about white chocolate Jason Williams watch his highlights incredible
Thats one of the things with AG that i really respect. The guy is always ready. Jokic can throw some crazy passes to him in the dunker spot and while i am never ready for it to happen, AG just catches it and puts it in.
I honestly think that if AG would have been healthy the past two seasons then the Nuggets would have done significantly better than they did.
in general he’s pretty accurate.
This is a bit of an understatement lol
There are parallels with a CAM in football, they see the passing lanes even when they haven’t fully appeared
Remarkable
It happens, but not often.
Like the other person said, most of the time when he just totally misses a pass it’s because as he was passing the ball his teammate abruptly did something they clearly weren’t supposed to.
Last season there was one time where it was super basic, like a dribble hand-off, but mid screen as Jokic is handing off, his teammate inexplicably turned around to go back the way he came and Jokic handed off the ball to nobody and the other team just scooped it up. Jokic had such a wtf expression, just stood there like “what are we doing?”
yeah there was also this insane lob to mpj at 0:55 that he completely misread for example
404
Ever? Yes but the question is how many of his misses are because the other guy is out of position. Like I’ve seen him try a no look just as Gordon was vacating the spot and it goes out of bounds.
An example. Almost everyone they’ve ever slotted next to Jokic cuts toward the rim by default.
Julian Strawther cuts to open space.
When they finally started getting minutes together, Jokic was coming off injury with this kid that kinda plays the opposite of what everyone else does having earned minutes in his absence. Bonked so many balls off the back of his head expecting him have his hands up for easy ass layups Julian couldn’t imagine instead of running to an empty spot on the 3 point line.
Rarely
Nah
Not nearly as often as you’d think.
Ive watched almost all of the Nuggets games the last 3 years. And i think when it comes to behind the back and over the shoulder passes he probably hits more of them than he misses. I wont go as far as to say that he almost never misses, but thats what it feels like (but im probably falling for some confirmation bias since the passes he hits are more memorable).
The season just started. We already got the best pass of the year. This is insane
The season hasn’t even started*
I’m too high for this thread
Username checks out.
we already got best pass of the decade* lmao Joker is crazy
I’m going to stop watching now. Nothing else will top this
I mean this is just insane.
Mind blowing
I almost wouldn’t wanna get a pass that good I’d be so nervous to sell the clip
For real, Cam had to be so relieved
On the other hand, we still talk about Jason Williams’ elbow pass. But yeah, it’s so much better this way
Last pre-season Cam ruined an insane pass by missing the shot, he couldn’t let it happen again!
He also threw a behind the back pass very similar to this to Bruce brown vs the rockets last season, but he missed it. The only reason I even remembered it was because the Amazon nba YouTube account posted a short with a comparison
The highlight reel of insane Jokic passes that no one sees because the dude bricks it is .. long.
The pass was so incredible, I’m even impressed that Nurkic even reacted to it. It’s so out of nowhere.
I see people try this kinda pass a dozen of times every open gym I play at.
Granted, nobody actually hits their target but you know, close enough.
I mean, it does get to the target after ricocheting off a couple gym walls… 🤷♂️
I would never in a million years be ready for that pass
You could do it. I believe in you
Whenever Jokic has gotten new teammates like Cam last year it takes them a bit to be ready for the ball at all times.
Luka has also had teammates that have mentioned needing to be ready anytime when Lukas got the ball.
I would probably catch it fine, but no way I am hitting the shot
Some nuggets players have said that eventually you learn by getting hit in the face with the ball and just always prepare for receiving a pass
Your chances of making the nba just took a slight hit
How tf do you guard that
That’s the fun thing, you don’t!
I think you just retire
He already planned the pass at 0:10 sec crazy, looks at Cam at that moment
It’s a great pass if he just does it straight on, no one’s gonna say it’s easy to throw a pass cross court along the baseline past 3 defenders so to do it behind the back is disgusting
Jokic didn’t look like he’s even trying .. he’s smooth
Unbelievable to hit Cam that perfectly damn
I hope Jokic and Hauser play together so Jokic can hit some unreal pass into a no-dip three for Hauser
Glad Cam made the shot. That’s an all time assist for sure
The worst thing about White Chocolates elbow pass is that the guy he passes to misses the shot.
to be fair he got fouled on the attempt and was right under the rim
Oh I know, but seeing the clip cut short everytime they show it in best of reels always hurts just a little
Didn’t he do a similar pass last year only for the shooter to miss?
If you mean preseason, I think it might’ve been the same guy lol
Yep, it was Cam. He got his redemption
I bet he doesn’t even practice this shit, out all summer riding horses
I mean does he look like he practices
He plays water polo on wii sports resort and the skills are transferable
It’s so aesthetically appealing 😫
I mean, whatever man
This play is more brilliant the more I watch it. He sees the corner shooter (who’s closer to the wing at the first sighting) as soon as he catches the ball. He knows the cutter is going to curl which drags his defender blocking the lane and also the corner shooter defender watches him the curl. Throws the pass right during the curl to an open corner three (who has since drifted from wing to corner unnoticed). Fucking amazing.
Greatest pass ever? Top 5?
What’s really underrated with this pass is how he waited for the defender to clear out to make the pass. It was a very tight window
Who even thinks of trying this in an actual game?
Aye that’s the best part of it, he’s doing passes most don’t even think of trying
Filthy pass.
“this mfer is disgusting” - me like twenty times a season
Only 20? You should watch more Jokic!
“Bill Laimbeer could have done that” - Olden Polynice, probably
This is what they think Magic did
Bite your tongue, nephew. Us old heads know what Magic was AND what Joker is.
Iron out the wrinks, gramps. Us youngins with still working eyes can see just fine what Magic was. (Hint: it ain’t this.)
I’m both an old head and a Jokic truther.
Magic probably eeks him out as a passer in transition with a live dribble.
But a full speed dribble is a bit of a handicap for Jokic. Almost every other passing situation… I think I’m unashamedly taking Jokic.
I dunno man. Some of Magic’s highlights on YouTube look similar to this
But I’ll say this though. It’s only preseason but this might be the best pass I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been on YouTube searching for passing porn from the greats like LeBron, Magic, Bird etc
lmao okay kid
One for the books holy shit.
That’s an all time dime
Absurd. That’s the only word I can think of for it. Just an absurd pass.
Sengun could never
Alot of allstars could never
Dude what the fuck , how?
Jokic is something special man , I remember when the ringer did an article of Jokic vs Embid years ago and they’ve convinced me from then that joker was that dude
Behind the pass, what’s crazy for me is that Cam was like ready for it
At this point if you’re Jokic’s teammate you have to be prepared to get the ball at anywhere in the possession.
if you slow down the highlight to 0.6x speed, the pass becomes incomprehensible. he reads #10 and Nurkic confusion with his left eye peripherial vision, SIMULTANEOUSLY reads Cam Johnson wide open… #10 isn’t even confused, he’s split second reacting to coverage.. and all under a split second to twitch fire the behind back across baseline pass?
Me sitting there feeling like a loser for watching nuggets jazz preseason
… Jokic happens
Just glad bro actually made the shot so we can “fully” appreciate that greatness of that pass.
don’t think even Kuroko’s Basketball had a pass like that due to how unrealistic it would seem lmao. What a monster
Jokic is what happens if you give Kuroko’s passing to Murasakibara but take away the defense and dunking.
The idea doesn’t surprise me, what surprised me was how accurate the fucking pass was, god damn and on top of how difficult it is to throw a behind the back pass like that ? 👍🏻
My God! What a pass!
Shout out Cam Johnson for hitting the shot
Jfc what a dime
10 points.
10 points for what?
Snitching
Sheesh
Right in the god damn pocket holy shit
Jesus christ like he made it look so effortless as well
An all timer in a pre season game?
This friggin guy
That guy is not human 🤯🤖
Filthy MacNastay…