Post#146 » by younggunsmn » Sat Nov 4, 2023 1:37 am
Finally got a chance to watch the replay of this game.
Can't believe all the KAT bashing.
Yes he was out of control on offense, still trying to find his place in the 2 big scheme, but then again so is everyone else too.
And still a lot of whining about calls and falling to the floor. I think he may have built a bit of a rep as a flopper and this is a reason he doesn't get as many calls. The other reason of course is that refs are mandated not to put superstars in foul trouble, and a lot of the terrible no calls in the first half were about keeping Joker in the game. If you are calling everything by the book, Jokic may have fouled out in the 1st quarter.
But don't ignore the good things KAT did as they aren't the things you normally notice from him.
1. Phenomenal job of Jokic and great team defense. Whatever action they are running for Jokic, it usually ends up with him getting to the middle of the floor and using his vision to create for his teammates. KAT did a great job stonewalling him in the middle of the floor and using his size to cut down on his vision. Jokic 25 points on 23 FGA, just 3 Assists to 5 TOs, and only 2 FTAs, that's about as good as anyone will defend Jokic this year. Our wing defenders also did a phenomenal job on staying with cutters, Rudy did a great job protecting the paint, essentially ignoring Aaron Gordon who was almost completely unable to make us pay.
But that all starts with great point of attack D on Jokic by KAT limiting his vision and cutting down his passing angles.
2. Much improved verticality this year when contesting shots.
3. Much better effort trying to finish through contact. You can tell this was a real point of emphasis.
Gobert - much more proactive on defense, and this was the kind of rim protection and shot deterrence I was expecting when we traded for him. He was constantly letting drivers get too deep on him last year.
Nuggets are a great matchup for our 2 big lineup as they really can't counter it defensively or punish us with a stretch big.
Gobert can play free safety against them, not going to work as well against some other teams or when teams go small.
This may have been my favorite game from him post trade even though he was 0/7 from the field, most of which came from ill advised passes. He did rim run some, but he didn't linger there or try to post up at all which was a big improvement for the spacing, and did set a lot of perimeter screens which is something I've been asking for.
Conley - was huge, deadly floater game, if he gets that going it will open the offense up a lot.
Ant and KAT still trying to find their place in this offense.
Jaden and Naz - Watching Jaden play D on Murray in the 1st half, and Naz light things up on the 2nd unit, makes me wonder what could have been last year in what was a really tight series. Jaden made some poor decisions with the ball, but his D and rebounding were great, and his ability to shoot and attack closeouts IMHO is going to be the key to unlocking this offense.
Zeke Nnaji a better rim protector than I was expecting, did not offer anything offensively. Braun still good, but you can tell they miss Bruce Brown too. Very little offense off Denver's bench is going to be a weak point for them.
