Feel like his D gets good reviews but I’m not a close enough watcher. They definitely get some juice from that 5-out stuff that they can run bc he’s such a good passer. And they REALLY don’t have any good options at the 5 defensively without him. But 40 of 83 from 2 for the series was roof stoof.
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Sometimes I think his defensive asset is less that he personally is a shut down defender, but his relatively unique mobility/agility allow them to play an extremely stifling brand of D. In other words, its not that he personally is shutting people down, but he moves well enough that they basically never have to go under a screen ever.
On the other hand because he’s a pretty limited offensive player, you can get into high stakes series where your second best player is….Caleb Martin, which, all due respect…
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Jokic is going to put him in a trash can and roll him down the rocky mountains.
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I would tend to think that Bam’s unique set of defensive skills aren’t as applicable for Jokic. His biggest problem is size, and Jokic shoul dbe able to pound him down.
Of course the entire world has spend 3 series explaining why the Heat will lose, so I dunno.
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Also, he’s capable of driving from the three point line if the defense is compromised so those dribble hand offs with all those shooters must be tough to handle.
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Is this a Kevin love series? I don’t know how you take Caleb Martin off the court but maybe 12 min a game for KL vs Joker gives Bam some relief?
I also find it amusing that he takes the ball up the court more than several times a game. He is very active as the screener in high ball screens and is a plus passer, so…those have to mean something offensively. It’s like Draymond, the team just works better with him out there, even if he’s not scoring.
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I can’t believe this is the same guy that we just hoped would score 6 points - against college defenses.
What were we, like 20-0 when he did that?
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I think the Nuggets would probably just not use Jokic in the post vs Love bc he’s just an incapable rim protector and terrible in switches. Ball screens would kill him.
They could tho play him when Gordon is on the court. I think in general Gordon is more of a liability on O than teams have been able to take advantage of. Jokic was just so good that AD as a roamer barely dinged them.
I think the Heat are just going to have to try to outscore the Nuggets because I just don’t know how you defend them without an Anthony Davis (and even that wasn’t enough.)
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Feel like if Miami goes zone Denver would absolute destroy that but idk
Yes the zone will likely be untenable against the Nuggs but they’ll try. Nuggets were #1 against zone this year
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Passing big + shooters sounds like a zone beater to me.
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Think you gotta go with the Luka Garza Rules. Let Jokic get his without letting him be a facilitator.
That’s been tried, the problem is that Jokic and the Nuggets are too good for it to be that simple. If you’re running a DHO with Jokic and Murray you can’t just double Murray. Or if they get Porter moving off ball too. They just have a lot you have guard and they just scored very well on the supposed best defense in the league
I think I’m rooting for the nuggets, but it’d be pretty amazing for the heat to win championships in three totally different eras of their franchise in seventeen years, and for udonis haslem to have been there the whole time lol
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I enjoy both teams for different reasons and I don’t think there’s a negative outcome no matter what happens. Joker raising the trophy would validate the MVP debate and give Denver a championship for the first time. Heat winning with their roster and in this era would show how impressive that organization has been and give Duncan a ring.
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Yeah, going into the finals with a previously untitled star (both pretty cool players) raising the trophy is pretty cool in my book.
tbh, if, like, Lebron was in this I think the “WHAT WOULD A FIFTH TITLE MEAN FOR THE GOAT DEBATE” discourse would kill me
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There is a non zero chance of “NBA Finals MVP Duncan Robinson” and that is just really fun
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According to “oddschecker,” Duncan is +50000
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