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***Official NBA Thread***
- Thread starter Mister Wright
- Start date
Anil
Hall of Fame Member
Yes it’s just one game, long way to go man…
They can't shoot any worse than they did on Thursday but then neither can the Nuggets. Miami showed glimpses at the start of Q4 but the game overall had the feel of a tall heavyweight holding off a shorter opponent with his jab to win unanimously on points.
OverratedSanity
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This has been a terrible 4th quarter by denver. Some brutal fouls.
OverratedSanity
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Boy, that was a huge win. Bam's passing really caused Denver problems.
Teja.
Global Moderator
Miami played perfect today to force Jokic to let go of being the primary playmaker and end up with only 4 assists. I posted this months ago that the strategy that has worked against Jokic last 3 playoffs is to limit his assists below the 5/6 range and let him score. Draymond mentioned this in a podcast he did a couple of weeks ago as well that the one game Jokic looked normal was when the Twolves choked his playmaking to 6 assists. He was the main playmaker in the regular season but only averaged 5.xx assists in the playoffs for 3 years until this year with Jokic dominating the ball usage%.
I’ll admit that I underestimated them because the adjustment Denver made this post season to counter this is to run the ball through Murray as much as Jokic, they both have nearly the same usage% of 28-29% instead of Jokic dominating the ball with the idea that if Jokic’s playmaking is clamped like this game, Murray can be the primary play maker and Denver’s offence isn’t completely choked. This has made teams just accept the Jokic playmaking matchup.
However, while Denver has this counter, it’s still better for teams to force Denver to play like this, with Murray effectively playing as a play making point guard and Jokic playing as a paint scoring focused power forward offensively.
This creates a much more even matchup because Jokic is reduced to a ‘normal’ 35 ppg elite scorer as opposed to the best playmaker in the last 30 years who will also put up 25 with ease.
Denver still the big favourites because they still have better players but will need to play much better defense and find ways to generate much better looks for 3s through Murray if Jokic is being held down constantly.
Last edited:
nightprowler10
Global Moderator
Seems like a bad game to miss. 
duffer
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
What game?Seems like a bad game to miss.
Teja.
Global Moderator
The raw stats make it look like Jokic had a great game but Denver’s offence was so clamped when Jokic was on the court and they were forcing the offence through him in the first half.
He was -11 in a 3 point game with 5 turnovers while being in the -17 to -20 range until the last minute come back attempt. He’s normally a +8 to +10 so that’s at least a -20 point deficit on the Jokic minutes. He at least played more like a PF in the second half instead of forcing the playmaking which reduced the bleeding from his minutes.
Denver need to make a choice to either decisively run through Murray from the first quarter or have a concrete plan against Miami’s defence clamping Jokic’s playmaking.
Both Jokic and Murray looked shook and had a rough time adjusting to being forced to play new roles by Miami when on the court together in the first half which led to multiple players committing turnovers. The game was close due to the incredible run they went on in the non-Jokic minutes in the second quarter. That was the only stretch that Denver was not either exchanging buckets or getting out hustled.
He was -11 in a 3 point game with 5 turnovers while being in the -17 to -20 range until the last minute come back attempt. He’s normally a +8 to +10 so that’s at least a -20 point deficit on the Jokic minutes. He at least played more like a PF in the second half instead of forcing the playmaking which reduced the bleeding from his minutes.
Denver need to make a choice to either decisively run through Murray from the first quarter or have a concrete plan against Miami’s defence clamping Jokic’s playmaking.
Both Jokic and Murray looked shook and had a rough time adjusting to being forced to play new roles by Miami when on the court together in the first half which led to multiple players committing turnovers. The game was close due to the incredible run they went on in the non-Jokic minutes in the second quarter. That was the only stretch that Denver was not either exchanging buckets or getting out hustled.