Will Jokic get exposed these playoffs, again?

[AleksandarN]

And Will Embiid finally break through? As great Jokic is offensively, he cannot be trusted to guard or slow down any competent offensive player. Meanwhile, Embiid has the team around him. Its up to him to finally deliver and get out of the East as the best two way center in the game.

Watch on YouTube

Nuggets should be thankful these two teams are in seperate conferences becauses Embiid would cook him in any match up. Embiid made him look like a bench player.

I call bull. Jokic was playing way better defense on Embiid. Then Embiid was on jokic.

Given Embiid nearly put up a 50 piece and Jokic 24 points, I don't see how you can say that with a straight face. Embiid had him on skates. Inside and out. The footage doesn't lie. Come on.

When did embiid play defense on jokic? Tucker did a better job on Jokic than Embiid did. That won’t happen next game. As Jokic will force Philly to make Embiid spend energy guarding Jokic.

[NZB2323]

Jokic has been to a conference finals, and Embiid hasn’t.

Yes, Embiid won today, but last year Jokic won, and had a clutch block on Embiid, and the year before that they split the season series.

Embiid is a great player, but when has Jokic been exposed in the playoffs?

2019 - beats the Spurs in 7 games, loses to Portland in 7.

A 23 year old Jokic averages 25, 14, and 8 on 59.6 TS%, 29.6 PER.

2020 - makes it to the conference finals after beating the Jazz and Clippers, loses to eventual NBA champion.

A 24 year old Jokic averages 24, 10, and 6 on 61.4 TS%, 24.8 PER.

2021 - His teammates are injured, but still beats Portland before losing to the eventual conference champion Phoenix.

A 25 year old Jokic averages 30, 12, and 5, 59.1 TS%, 29.6 PER.

2020 - Jokic’s teammates are injured, Jokic loses in the first round to the eventual NBA champion Warriors.

A 26 year old Jokic averages 31, 13, and 6, 64.3 TS%, 33.1 PER

[Optms]

I call bull. Jokic was playing way better defense on Embiid. Then Embiid was on jokic.

Given Embiid nearly put up a 50 piece and Jokic 24 points, I don't see how you can say that with a straight face. Embiid had him on skates. Inside and out. The footage doesn't lie. Come on.

When did embiid play defense on jokic? Tucker did a better job on Jokic than Embiid did.

So he had Tucker on him throughout the game and he only attempts 12 shots for the entirety of the game?

[UcanUwill]

When was Jokic exposed?

[life_saver]

Will Embiid fail to reach Conference finals again ?

[AleksandarN]

Given Embiid nearly put up a 50 piece and Jokic 24 points, I don't see how you can say that with a straight face. Embiid had him on skates. Inside and out. The footage doesn't lie. Come on.

When did embiid play defense on jokic? Tucker did a better job on Jokic than Embiid did.

So he had Tucker on him throughout the game and he only attempts 12 shots for the entirety of the game?

In the second half it was all Tucker on Jokic. Tucker did a great job on Jokic. But that won’t happen again the next game. Because with all greats they will make adjustments.
Don’t make it sound like Embiid was playing defense on jokic.

[RipHamilton]

These garbage threads lower the quality of the forum too much. Drawing cheap conclusions for a simple game.

Jokic never got exposed in playoffs. He never had enough team to go much further. In playoffs, they should beat any team in the west this year, except, maybe, a healthy Clippers & Warriors.

[Optms]

When was Jokic exposed?

When he got his Nuggets swept 0-4 to the Suns. And that time when AD cooked him in the bubble. That's when.

Don't give me the injury excuse either. He's a 2-time MVP for crying out loud. He should be talented enough to steal a few games.

[Cubbies2120]

Nuggets should be thankful these two teams are in seperate conferences becauses Embiid would cook him in any match up. Embiid made him look like a bench player.

The Nuggets should have brought in another player and took Jokic off Embiid, cause he was getting cooked.

The Sixers saw Jokic was cooking Embiid and were able to put Tucker on him to give Embiid a break.

That said, this was clearly the most important game of the season to Embiid...

Embiid: 31 FGA
Jokic: 12 FGA

Embiid has shot 30+ shots 4x in his career (tonight being one of them).

He went out there to try to outplay the MVP, Jokic said *shrug* "ok...my goal is to make the best basketball decision each play, and that means passing up good shots to generate great shots for teammates"...

[UcanUwill]

When was Jokic exposed?

When he got his Nuggets swept 0-4 to the Suns. And that time when AD cooked him in the bubble. That's when.

What was exposed about Jokic there? Exposed means something about player is revealed that can be used against him going forward, like how Hawks exposed Hibbert for example. That is being exposed, no one in the league wants to play Jokic in a series, trust me.

[Cubbies2120]

When was Jokic exposed?

When he got his Nuggets swept 0-4 to the Suns. And that time when AD cooked him in the bubble. That's when.

So losing to the Champions = Exposed, losing to the WC Champions w/o 2nd best player = exposed, and losing to the Champions again = exposed

So what do we say about players who lost to teams that didn't make the Finals in those same years? Just curious...were they also exposed?

[Karate Diop]

And Will Embiid finally break through? As great Jokic is offensively, he cannot be trusted to guard or slow down any competent offensive player. Meanwhile, Embiid has the team around him. Its up to him to finally deliver and get out of the East as the best two way center in the game.

Watch on YouTube

Nuggets should be thankful these two teams are in seperate conferences becauses Embiid would cook him in any match up. Embiid made him look like a bench player.

It's significantly more likely that Embiid chokes AGAIN than that he finally breaks through... Baby Biid went all out this game because it's basically his finals.

Dude is a paper tiger.

[AleksandarN]

Hey Optms if denver hid jokic on defense from Embiid. What would you have said? Actually what would everyone say on this board. Credit to Rivers for making adjustments. Malone sadly did not at all in the second half. They should have done cuts and flare screens with Gordon when Embiid was on him to tire him out but Malone for some reason didn’t make any adjustments. That is what is lacking in Malone’s coaching. He is so slow to make adjustments in game. When you get out coached by Doc during the game there is something wrong. It is not like Doc is like Lue or Spoelstra. Don’t get me wrong Malone is a good coach with a great game plan at the start of games. But his second half coaching sucks

[Optms]

When was Jokic exposed?

When he got his Nuggets swept 0-4 to the Suns. And that time when AD cooked him in the bubble. That's when.

What was exposed about Jokic there? Exposed means something about player is revealed that can be used against him going forward, like how Hawks exposed Hibbert for example. That is being exposed, no one in the league wants to play Jokic in a series, trust me.

By being a 2-time MVP and getting his team swept. By not being able to defend the third best big man in the game. And tonight, by letting the second best big man cook him on national television. How many more examples do you need?

[moderndarwin]

Terrible poll options. Should have been yes or no based on thread title. Of course Steph gonna expose him again.

[Onlytimewilltel]

The Nuggets need to hope they don't get the Warriors anytime before the Western finals.

Every playoff team should hope that

[Optms]

When was Jokic exposed?

When he got his Nuggets swept 0-4 to the Suns. And that time when AD cooked him in the bubble. That's when.

So losing to the Champions = Exposed, losing to the WC Champions w/o 2nd best player = exposed, and losing to the Champions again = exposed

So what do we say about players who lost to teams that didn't make the Finals in those same years? Just curious...were they also exposed?

Those players didn't have 2 MVPs to their names* There is exposure on different levels here.

[dockingsched]

I think the biggest obstacle between the nuggets and the finals will be Jokic’s defense. Unlike the regular season, teams will tailor their offense to attacking him over and over again.

[DCasey91]

Can’t think of a team that won it all without good rim protection and good inside defensive presence at least in recent memory.

Jokic has value on his rebounding ability but now more so than ever pnr/screen heavy play is at an all time high.

I don’t think anything else new will happen, the results will come and the Nuggets go back to the drawing board.

Love Jokic but unless he is utilised in a Dirk like structure (Big defensive PG that acts like a wing and a really good inside defender) then no winning it all ain’t happening.

This is possibly the most in inarguable fact in the history of the NBA in regards to big man value. That is to say in relative terms Elite/Great defenders for bigs have faired better in the end.

From Mikan/Russell/Wilt all the way to AD/Giannis and beyond it’s stood the test of time.

Nothing in the NBA today changes that fact, in fact for me it’s the single most stable thing when winning.

I don’t know if anyone has the WR% on this but if collected the data would be very sound imo.

For me there’s a reason why a Towns/Cousins like player has never worked and reasonably predicted in the future it will never eventuate.

[Cubbies2120]

When he got his Nuggets swept 0-4 to the Suns. And that time when AD cooked him in the bubble. That's when.

So losing to the Champions = Exposed, losing to the WC Champions w/o 2nd best player = exposed, and losing to the Champions again = exposed

So what do we say about players who lost to teams that didn't make the Finals in those same years? Just curious...were they also exposed?

Those players didn't have 2 MVPs to their names* There is exposure on different levels here.

Wait wait, the first example you mentioned was before he was even an MVP...

Was Kobe exposed when missing the playoffs after Shaq?
Was MJ exposed by losing to the Celtics for a while?

If you say no I'd love to know the reason