To Jokic’s credit, he has defended without fouling, with Davis shooting only one free throw over those 114 possessions. The Lakers have scored 115 points on those possessions, with Davis making 20 of his 32 shots (62.5%) and committing only two turnovers. Jokic has guarded Davis on 114 possessions this season, per NBA data collected by cameras in each arena that track player movement. Let’s quickly back up to put the challenge in context. One NBA scout believed that the best way to slow the big men might be to let them score in bunches, effectively testing their conditioning to keep it up. Yet neither has had much success stopping the other, which leads to the question of how the teams will mix up their coverages if playing straight-up defense is not cutting it. 1 Nuggets.ĪG: Few opponents have guarded Davis as often as Jokic, and vice versa. Here’s what to expect when the Lakers open the Western Conference finals in Denver against two-time MVP Nikola Jokic and the No. Nuggets: What scouts expect in Western Conference finals I think it can be tougher to stop a player’s ability to create for others than it is to stop someone from scoring. He can kill a team and shoot only seven times. Jokic is way different because he’s functionally Denver’s point guard. You can double team, you can make it really hard for him to get the ball by crowding the paint and you can take your chances with the Lakers’ perimeter players shooting and cutting to the basket. The play of these two likely will determine the outcome of the series.ĭW: In some ways, stopping AD is a cleaner strategy. But during the regular season, it was pretty much a standoff between the two. ![]() He shot 59.4% from the field and 44.4% from three-point range. ![]() He averaged a triple-double of 34.5 points, 13.2 rebounds and 10.3 assists in the second-round series against the Phoenix Suns. Jokic has been otherworldly in the playoffs for the Nuggets. In 12 games, he has averaged 21.2 points, 14.1 rebounds (tops in the playoffs), 2.7 assists and 3.3 blocks (also tops in the playoffs). When Davis is on his game, the Lakers have been difficult to beat in the playoffs. BT: To start, it’ll probably be a one-on-one matchup, Davis going at and defending Jokic and Jokic defending Davis.
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