Which player is actually ‘best’ at guarding Nikola Jokic
For whatever reason before the WCF in 2023, there was a conception that Anthony Davis does very well against Nikola Jokic however that narrative has completely flipped.
I’ve seen Nurkic, Ayton, Draymond and Gobert mentioned before but the facts (stats) seem untrue.
While there might not be a Jokic stopper, is there an actual player that defends Jokic well to the point of keeping him to or below his averages?
I don’t think it’s really about players. AD was good at it but the team wasn’t equipped to focus him on Joker and stop everyone else. While individuals may or may not be better it’s superseded by the team’s ability to defend him. The real weapon isn’t Joker. It’s that Joker/Jamal two man game they’ve built the nuggets around. And TBH I don’t know if anyone really defneds it at all.
AD does alright in 1 on 1 but the issue is you’re not just guarding Jokic. And the Lakers desperately need ADs help defense, so the moment he helps off Jokic there’s an offensive rebound open for Jokic or an extra pass for him. And if he stays on Jokic Murray or someone else usually just cooks our guards and gets too good of a shot.
Yea exactly. AD’s help is so much more valuable but he can’t do both. Your team really needs to be built right to counter what Denver does. Denver plays such beautiful ball and TBH I don’t think anyone has really responded to it defensively. They’re just loaded up on O. TBH man had LAL just signed Dwight for their run it might have helped a ton. Maybe they still lose but not a sweep. You just can’t get in Joker’s head at all. He has no ego and will make the right play.