Note: This article is written by Warriors journalist Joe Viray and translated by the Warriors Nation Translation Team.
Translators: Twisted leaf pine, small fresh meat in buns, Stephen Ashin and fish
In the pre-game series preview of the first game between the Golden State Warriors and the Denver Nuggets, I talked about About Keic in the "get this" column.
"The Warriors have more talent and depth than the Nuggets, but make no mistake — Aaron Gordon, Will Barton and Monte Morris are not fuel-efficient lamps. If you don't value them, they can punish you in a variety of ways. ”
"But they're not Jamal Murray and Michael Potter Jr. after all. Jokic will get gorgeous stats, and he'll certainly make the most of those less capable pitchers who can take some of the pressure off him on the offensive end. But [against the Warriors] he doesn't have that condition right now. "
Jokic made 25 shots in his first game, 12-of-21 from two-point range and 0-of-4 from three-point range, and had 25 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, shooting 48/0/50 from the field, with only 2 free throw chances and a true shooting percentage of 48.3 percent. That's far from what the reigning MVP's efficient scorer should be, shooting 66.1 percent from the field in the regular season.
In Jokic's 34.5 minutes on the floor, the Warriors won the Nuggets by 19 points.
A big question mark in this series is the Warriors' defensive type against Jokic at the low post (Jokic scored 1.17 points per game in the low post, more than 91 percent of the league's players). Sometimes, no matter what difficulties you create for him, it seems impossible to kill him completely. But Jokic, as an otherworldly offensive talent, is expected to perform so well on the offensive end.
The Warriors' single defenses were almost always on the verge of fouls, physically fighting with their hands and feet, pushing Jokic away from his preferred position, making him have to expend a lot of effort every time he scored — but more often than not, despite the difficulties, he almost always found a way to score.
The Warriors didn't get much better on the double bag to defend him, and as a big man, his passing was unmatched. Whether it's low or high, he can pass the ball or pass from a high position in a delay. His vision can be said to be staggering, and he can quickly calculate which ball should be passed, which teammate is empty, and the tactics he wants to execute.
That's why, in a sense, single-defense of Jokic works better. As long as the other Nuggets players can't rely on his unique gravity to score in tandem when Jokic is not on the floor, then the idea of letting Jokic score is right. (Of course, this will also cause them some trouble.) ）
The negative effects of single-defense Jokic also need to be considered. Whether it's having Looney or Green carry out the task of defending Jokic all night, it doesn't bode well for their bodies. In addition, having Looney defend Jokic would be a good way to free Green to go on a defensive tour.
But when Green needs to go on Jokic's defensive mission, he needs to make sure he can defend with all his might to make this player half a foot taller than him play hard.
When the Warriors were in this situation, the Nuggets used the cover cutting tactic to let Jokic face Green in the box, and Green needed to make sure that Jokic was as far away from the basket as possible.
Another important thing to point out: Green is to strengthen the strength of the next game by expanding his standing posture, which makes it difficult for Jokic to move Green. When Jokic was struggling to solve Green's troubles, Jokic tried to get a good shot by trying to use his feet, turn around, and look for an angle – but Green kept his hands high, trying to put enough pressure on Jokic in the next set and trying to get him to try difficult hooks.
None of this guarantees success all the time, putting pressure on Jokic not to use his feet and shaking in the restricted area, which often leads to such results:
But Jokic is a genius on offense. Like every great scorer, Jokic always figures out a way out of this insurmountable dilemma. For the Warriors, the key is to take off the hat and salute, praying that Jokic will not be so lucky in this situation.
I also say this about Bjelica in my series predictions:
Nemanja Bjelica may sound like a controversial choice, but he is a better static defender (such as a low-post defense) than a mobile defender (such as defensive blocking and outside line changes); don't be surprised if Bjelica enters the rotation in this series and takes on some defensive jokic tasks.
Indeed, in this game, Belcha was part of Steve Cole's 10-man rotation. The shortcomings of the Don't-Richard blocking are well known, but this series is a perfect opportunity for him to contribute offensively and hassle less defensively.
In the regular season, the Nuggets had the fewest blocks in the league (averaging 12.5 per game), slightly lower than the Warriors, who are second-to-last in the league, averaging 13.8 per game. By comparison, the Nuggets played the second-most frontcourt rebounds (averaging 8.8 per game).
That's why the Warriors can handle Bett in the rotation. Can Jokic score better than he can under the basket? Of course - Jokic can score more than anyone. But Bercha performs much better in the lows than on space defense:
Coupled with Jokic's occasional double-header at the back, Gary Payton II gave him a cap, while Belitsa would do his part to push Jokic out of his position to gain possession. Much like Jokic, Berica's hands are surprisingly fast — he can loose the ball or slide the ball down on a shot, as seen in the second video above.
Jokic's efficiency was successfully controlled by the Warriors' rotation. Another important factor may be their explicit intention to put Jokic in as many screening operations as possible at the other end of the floor.
Until then, I would say that Jokic is far from a bad defender. He's by no means a candidate to deserve the best defensive player — which may be a bit too much — but he's probably one or two notchs away.
But there are still some weaknesses that can be exploited. Again, as stated in the forward look:
"When Jokic was involved in the blocking, the Nuggets had used a lot of cover-level defense — a defense that wasn't as deep as traditional defense, but was more conservative than hedging. Theoretically, this takes up the shooter's pull-up space, allowing the defender with the ball to retrace and/or stare, while Jokic can complete and eventually return to his original mission.
"But if he's forced into space defending someone in space who has enough ability to disguise, go down and finish (plus some early drag cover on the offensive), it's going to be hard for Jokic to stop them if he can't get back from high to low quickly."
The Warriors focused on the Nuggets' tactics that focused on the offense. The Warriors have both traditional low-post singles tactics and slightly more aggressive pass-cut tactics — to deplete him and force him to move to defend hard.
Arguably, no one can make the most of such tactics than Jordan Poole. He scored 30 points on 13 shooting (4-of-6 from two-point range, 5-of-7 from three- and shooting 69%/71%/88% from the field and 90.8% from the field.
Poole started in place of Curry. He replicated what Curry did in his legendary career in the same way: using blocking passes to create opportunities and using cover to score.
The Warriors chose to use Green in the No. 5 position to play a small lineup, which put the Nuggets in a difficult situation, and Jokic had to defend Green. Green himself is not a very threatening scorer, which makes it a reasonable choice to let him restrain Keech's defensive movements.
But Green knows how to play his part as a player with no space and no scoring threats. His upward cover forced Jokic to start moving, and the upward drag blocking made Jokic have to stand up to defend the ball carrier coming from the cover, and the bottom line of no-ball cover — Green is a blocking machine.
Poole and Klay Thompson (19 points, 5-of-10 from three-point range) are the beneficiaries of these solid blocks. This depletion of Jokic exposed the Nuggets to a big problem, the lack of a point of organization to hold the ball, and Jokic's personal efficiency was declining.
Although Curry's body is still in shape from just injury, he played 22 minutes today, and he scored 16 points on 5-of-13 shooting (2-of-7 from two-point range and 3-of-6 from three-point range) — but he got backings like Poole and Thompson. The trio played a total of seven minutes against the Nuggets, during which time they scored more than their opponents by 29.4 points per 100 possessions, including 141.2 percent offensive efficiency.
No matter how Kerr adjusts the starting lineup in the next game, whether it is Poole starting or Curry starting, the more important point is to make Ku tangcha play the most effective when he is on the floor at the same time, and it seems that the Nuggets have no solution to this at present.