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?
Folks need to stop thinking of who is best at slowing down Joker, one of the greatest offensive players of this generation. It reminds me of the “Kobe stopper” discussions from 15 years ago.
Eventually the entire discussion turned into a joke because no matter how good the defensive player was, there was no such thing as a “Kobe stopper.” Similarly there’s no defender who’s best at slowing down Joker any longer.
As to the Davis example, he was a great defender against Joker… 3+ years ago when Joker would show up to preseason overweight and unprepared. Joker got better. Much better. Won 2x MVPs and a title since then. He’s a different caliber of player than when Davis slowed him down way back in the bubble.
I think that the real key to “slowing down Jokic” is to guard the rest of the Nuggets very well, especially their shooters. Jokic will score no matter what, but if you can limit his ability to get shots for his teammates, that’s the best you can ask for
It’s proven mute these last playoffs.
He’s such a good passer he will make the right play and will find his teammates. Also you can’t just leave him to score, he’ll oblitere you.
It needs to be a collective effort where your superstar forces him to work hard on defense and perhaps tire him up.
I think the team with the best shot at this are the Bucks. A healthy Giannis and Middleton, plus Lopez plus Portis plus Dame.
In Nuggets fan lore, Jokic finally got serious about his body after getting his butt whipped by AD in this game in 2019. '19-'20 was definitely the season for which he showed up fattest, and after that game our beat guys reported that he had started lifting weights after the game.
Armchair psychoanalyzing, but I think for the past couple years AD has been kind of a “measuring stick” for him.
This is Battier erasure and I will not stand for it. Dude literally had binders full of info on Kobe’s game he would study on the plane.