keevsnick1 wrote:
The Celtics will need to bomb threes in a Nuggets series. .
I don't agree with that much.
Bombing threes only works if you can establish rhythm and to do that you ideally need to be physical, win the possession battle, work the boards.
Jokic is an amazing offensive player and he works the boards, not a bad defensive player but defense isn't his strength. He's also not Bam or Gobert and he is not going to protect the paint like those guys. Gordon is a solid defender but also not a shot blocker.
Porter is the weakest point in their lineup, if we face the Nuggets we want the Jays taking it to him hard, not standing along the perimeter and jacking threes.
Jokic? You don't defend him by defending him IMO. You make him work on defense, and you defend his teammates, because for the most part it's all you can do. Ideally maybe you put a big body on him and hope you can get in his head. Ideally, that big body takes away easy shots near the basket.
You apply pressure in the backcourt when Jamal Murray is on the bench to take advantage of their lack of depth.
That's an hypothesis, but reg season the Nuggets were 2-3 when Jokic picked up 5+ fouls, 2-2 in the playoffs so far. They were 5-7 when he turned the ball over 5+ times, 1-1 so far in the playoffs. Interestingly, reg season they were 12-1 when Jokic did not attempt a 3 pointer, versus 2-5 when he attempted more than 6. Playoffs they are 0-1 when he shoots more than 5.
That was also the case last season, reg season Nuggets were 14-3 when Jokic did not attempt a 3, 1-6 when he shot 5+. Tho, they were 4-1 in the playoffs when he shot 5+. It make sense that his passing ability and also his rebounding ability is best leveraged near the rim.
Bruce Brown was a big loss for them because of voids he filled, was their sixth man, their backup PG, third ballhandler and was an option to play backup SG/SF if KCP or Porter were shooting poorly. In last year's playoffs the Nuggets were only beatable when Bruce Brown shot poorly. Without him they are not the same team.