Nikola Jokic was supposed to limit Denver’s defensive success, but the Nuggets have locked down the Suns in the first two games? How? Why can’t Phoenix exploit Jokic’s defense? This detailed film breakdown & scouting report breaks down the Nuggets defensive tactics, and why Coach Michael Malone, Aaron Gordon, Kentavius Caldwell-Pope, Bruce Brown and others have use horizontal quickness to slow down Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and the Phoenix Suns.
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Ben Taylor is the author of Thinking Basketball, a Nylon Calculus contributor, creator of the Backpicks Top 40 series & host of the Thinking Basketball podcast.
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Footage in this video is owned by the NBA and its partners. It is intended for critique and education.
Music by Didekbeats (Nemesis)
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that trap defense or hedge that can turn to double team defense reminds me of how my brother play 2k. I lost plenty of games, but learned to be calm and pass quick for an easy open shot.
now for suns it's horrible when they can't have alternative offense other than midrange shot. nuggets defense is a perfect matchup for suns offense. ray allen probably would rather stand in the corner and shoot to win rather than running round doing contested fadeaways and lose
Very good video, describing exactly what Denver set out to do, and did.
Congrats to Gordon, Caldwell-Pope for their great on ball defense on Book/KD, and congrats to damn near every nuggets rotation player for active hands and filling transition lanes.
COACH MALONE deserves more respect from the media, and I have a creeping suspicion they don’t want to give it to him.
But the Nuggets might win their first chip, and force the media to recognize what they’ve been able to build & achieve in Denver
Its simple, jokic is not nearly as bad of a defender as people pretend he is.
I'm watching this video after Denver has won the series. I wonder how this strategy shifts now that they'll be going against a team with an all-time great skip passer (LeBron).
Beat LA
2:32 bro Aaron Gordon just take as many steps as he want wth 💀
Ive been a fan of Jokic and the evolution of the team to it current iteration. It doesn't seem like it but Denver have good defense. Jokic is NOT a shot blocker BUT he is good at deflections. Does people noticed that for a Big Man Jokic have respectable steals?
Lakers is actually a good matchup for Denver compared to the warriors. Denver have a hard time on guarding players with good handles and cutters that can abuse Jokic's slow pace. Denver also has a hard time on good 3pt shooting teams. Pick and roll with Curry then either Curry would get space or penetrate then pass to outside shooters.
Lebron makes that skip pass in his sleep or just attacks Jokic off the dribble. AD will attack in iso and plays both sides of the ball while Jokic only plays offense
LA will show Denver how to do a proper pick and roll with Lebron/AD and the rest of their guards. These pick and rolls by the Suns are garbage.
On that Gordon fast break, he took 4 1/2 steps for the layup. The NBA never calls travelling but they love callin ticky-tack fouls. Its all about offensive and 3 pointers. Let the players play more aggressively especially in the paint. The league has gone soft over the years and its created an "inmates running the asylum" type of culture. Good defense is not rewarded like good offense. Luckily, we got some big guys bringing back the low-post game and winning MVPs again.
Big guys are shooting mid-range and fade-away jumpers, instead of posting up and shooting high-percentage shots. I feel like Jokic and Embid can really exploit these positions for wins because many teams simply dont have them. Denver has Jokic and Lakers have AD. You tell me who will exploit the inside game…thats whos gonna win the series.
Mike Malone really deserves more credit than he gets, he has drawn up amazing offensive and defensive schemes for the nuggets and is one of the best coaches in the nba, Aaron Gordon also deserves more credit for how much he helps the defense
Craig with the frisbee..😅
At some point, Jokic will learn to read their opponents' plays and call out the shots for their defense. With his court vision, that feels like something he'd pick up on the longer he's around the League
0:43 Oh ho we're gonna enter a time machine now, or rather suns is in the past.
Can this be also applied this finals?
A Torrey Craig frisbee from the corner is my new favourite quote from you thank you Ben
Jokic could still grab rebounds effectively. Wtf could Durant do on defense
The biggest robbery in history of sports,this guy is a mvp. Not a fan from nobody,only a fan in saints,but this guy deserved it.
Its interesting coming back and watching this when Miami is trying the hedge defense with Bam
Jokic keeps getting better. Next season, he'll be a defensive asset.
It was a Monty Williams problem.
It is easy. It is because Joker is a great defender. If he was a black man no one would be saying anything about his game. He would be treated like the next coming of Jordan. But he is white so…. we know the drill.
Nuggets where built to beat the Warriors. The defense that Nuggets play is called Team defence.
jokic improved a lot in defense this year, i think he lead the team in steal and block in the playoff if im not wrong….he have a quick hands
LUL
Frisbee hahahaha
Jokic just too good. Unless you outscore them, there's no chance.
book gotta be more aggressive make moves instead of picking up the dribble and the suns gotta set better screens and book gotta a play off the screen
have you ever been on ESPN, they need to get you there