Seeing the Detroit Pistons split the opening round of playoff games with a Game 2 win in New York against the Knicks, gives massive credence to the NBA Playoffs being a great sell.
Thus far, the NBA playoffs have lived up to expectations with multiple series delivering intense matchups filled with exciting plays on offense and on defense with the latter pushing the league to get all these plaudits after another regular season had many observers once again question whether players of the present generation care enough about the less glamorous end of the floor that is equally important as putting the ball through the hoop.
All teams that have made it to the post season competition have shown so far that they are indeed the elite in the NBA and getting there required a ton of great production.
One team that didn’t make it to the playoffs is the Dallas Mavericks and seeing the brilliant performances put out so far, should make Mavericks General Manager Nico Harrison more confident in his belief that injuries is the sole reason his team missed out on making the playoffs.
While that to a very large extent is true, stating that he didn’t truly know how popular Luka Doncic was in Dallas before he sanctioned his trade to the Los Angeles Lakers is a sackable offense. At the basic level, a General Manager of a team in the world’s greatest basketball league, needs to do his homework and be aware of the level of popularity of a player who had a day dedicated to him.
Luka Day is celebrated in Dallas on July 6 but that is no more as Harrison traded Doncic to the Lakers creating a firestorm in the aftermath of the trade. Enough of the aside and back to the playoffs, the Denver Nuggets are just 15 months separated from celebrating its first ever NBA title win but sacked the head coach responsible for that title-Mike Malone- just 10 days before the playoffs and are tied two games into what has been a brilliant series so far, against the Los Angeles Clippers.
Games 3 and 4 of the series will be played at the Clippers’ Intuit Dome and those games could prove to be the waterloo moment for the Nuggets season and the team’s future. Looking into the crystal ball of a post first round series elimination at the hands of the Clippers, it isn’t outlandish to envisage the Nuggets trading Michael Porter Jnr. and Jamal Murray to Phoenix Suns for Kevin Durant and signing a pass first Point Guard like Tyus Jones on a competitive contract.
In describing Jones, who just played out his one year deal with the Phoenix Suns in the traditional sense as a pass first Point Guard, that is exactly what the Nuggets need from Jamal Murray to get the team playing at its best.
In the 2023 NBA title run particularly in the NBA Finals, Murray played the role of a Point Guard so well by averaging 10 assists to lead all players in the series and then some by averaging 21 points. Two games into the series, Murray has ceded playmaking duties to Jokic and it isn’t working that well.
Running plays mainly through the center Nikola Jokic is great and as modern as they come but Denver need to get Jokic operating in a more old school traditional sense whose primary job is to defend first, score second and do everything else later.
This sounds crazy considering Jokic just averaged a triple double to become the first center to do so but after watching Denver play the Clippers twice, Jokic can’t get a deep playoff run without Jokic giving up almost as many points as he scores.
Be it through turnovers or failing to really make it hard for his direct opponent to score, it isn’t surprising that there is legit hesitation by many basketball followers to place Jokic as the greatest “Big Man” of all time or at least second on that list.
Jokic just wrapped up competing in his 10th NBA regular season and still has not been named to an NBA All Defensive Team; even ahead of this season’s All-Defensive Team reveal, it is clear as midday on this brutally hot April 22 that Jokic won’t make the cut.
Scanning through the list of the NBA Center GOAT list, all members have multiple All-NBA Defensive Team accolades on their CV.
Armed with the most unstoppable scoring move in the league’s history- the skyhook shot- and ranking as the second all-time leading scorer, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, still had 11 Defensive Team selections while Shaquille O’Neal had three to his credit, Wilt Chamberlain had two, David Robinson had eight and the great Bill Russell had one in his storied career.
Jokic’s defensive limitations have been an issue in the post season for several years because referees tend to allow players to be a bit more physical and games are majorly played in half court situations than it usually happens in the regular season.
It is important to note that the Nuggets’ NBA title came on the back off Denver playing the finals against a Miami Heat side that had the undersized Bam Adebayo lining up against Jokic who took advantage of the size mismatch.
While the Clippers Center Ivica Zubac isn’t the greatest defender out there, he stands at 7 feet tall and clearly his size is bothering Jokic who has scored 29 and 26 points respectively despite playing 46 and 43 minutes. While those scoring marks are great for many an NBA player, these numbers are just good but not great for the prolific Jokic.
Should the Nuggets somehow get beyond the Clippers, they take on the winner of the OKC Thunder-Memphis Grizzlies series that is likely to have OKC win, it is fair to believe that having Jokic operate as a traditional Center who places a bit more emphasis on the defensive side, is the best way for Denver Nuggets to have a deep run in the playoffs since the Thunder have a traditional center in Isaiah Hartenstein.
