19-20 Jimmy Butler - 13.1 FGA
22-23 Nikola Jokic - 14.8 FGA
22-23 Aaron Gordon - 11.2 FGA
22-23 Michael Porter Jr - 13.2 FGA
22-23 Bruce Brown - 9.3 FGA
21-22 Gary Payton II - 4.8 FGA
22-23 Evan Mobley - 12.0 FGA
10-11 Richard Jefferson - 7.9 FGA
Total FGA - 86.3/88.0
Gary Payton II (24) / Bruce Brown (24)
Jimmy Butler (40) / Bruce Brown (8)
Michael Porter Jr (32) / Richard Jefferson (16)
Aaron Gordon (36) / Evan Mobley (12)
Nikola Jokic (40) / Evan Mobley (8)
Writeup:
Let me start off by writing a bit about '22 GPII as I'm not sure others watched him as much as I did. This guy shot over 82% at the rim, over 65% from 3-10 feet and over 40% from the corner 3. Approaching 68% true shooting for the season. A preternatural feel for off-ball cutting. By all means, please double off of this guy - it's not like he's playing alongside one of the greatest passers in league history who's famous for finding off-ball cutters. This is all without even mentioning his defense which, on a per minute basis, rivals his own father. I have ZERO concern with Payton guarding Derek Harper or Allen or switching onto OG or Paul Pierce on a possession by possession basis - it's a cliche but the guy plays just way bigger than his size.
Now that I've defended his honor
We'll start off
GP on Harper
Butler on Ray Allen
Gordon of Pierce
MPJ on OG
Jok on KG
Between GP, Jimmy, and Gordon with Bruce Brown off the bench we can throw tons of ball pressure at his perimeter players. Think Jokic can do a decent job on Boston KG - much less of an athleticism disadvantage compared to peak Big Ticket.
Offensively, I think Jokic is just gonna pick this defense apart. KG obviously a great defender but Jokic easily has 40-50 pounds on him - I think he's gonna do a lotta damage inside and potentially put early fouls on Garnett. Maybe you adjust and bring Perkins in a bit more but that changes the offensive math significantly. More importantly than scoring on KG is just keeping him fully occupied and attached to Jokic - there's NO other rim protector on the court and Jimmy, AG, and GP are gonna run riot on cuts to the basket. You've got MPJ and Richard Jefferson on the wing who both shot well over 40% from 3 on volume and have no problem attacking the rim either.
Jimmy Butler has proven that he plays great with a passing hub big man working in PNR and hand-offs and cuts to the rim and can obviously turn up the intensity and pull tricks out of his bag when the moment calls for it. I actually think the fit with Jokic is about as good as you can get.
Ultimately, I think KG is just being asked to do too much here in trying to shut down Jokic and anchor the team defense.
Good luck DB, may the best team win