Better player:Anthony Davis vs Jokic

[No-more-rings]

So I'd like to add that Davis has played the 28th and then 14th ranked defense in the playoffs, while Jokic faced the 13th who had the top defensive center in the game and then the 5th ranked defense. Jokic has clearly faced better defenses and tougher individual matchups, while also facing more defensive attention than Davis has in the playoffs. On top of that he's 3-3 against a top 2 team in the West, and even with all that his productions still isn't that much worse than Davis'. So yeah, nothing has happened in the last 2 weeks to make me switch, but i can see switching to Davis depending on how things shape out, and it would really help decide this if we end up seeing the 2 square off in the WCF. I expect Clips to win game 7 though.

[Baski]

Weren't Houston the best playoff defense heading into the 2nd round? 14th isn't a fair representation of the level they hit defensively in the bubble.

[RCM88x]

Weren't Houston the best playoff defense heading into the 2nd round? 14th isn't a fair representation of the level they hit defensively in the bubble.

I feel like 7 games against 1 team isn't really a good way to gauge defense. They're probably closer to 14th than they are to 1st.

[Baski]

Weren't Houston the best playoff defense heading into the 2nd round? 14th isn't a fair representation of the level they hit defensively in the bubble.

I feel like 7 games against 1 team isn't really a good way to gauge defense.

I can appreciate the sample size issue, but Houston very clearly transformed into a good defensive team in the POs. They did get much better on defense. It showed both in the numbers and on the court. You can argue that they might not have maintained it throughout the playoffs, but what happened while they were in the POs was that teams struggled against them offensively.

They're probably closer to 14th than they are to 1st.

How so? They were literally 1st. Cant imagine any reasonable way to dock them all the way down to 9-13. They deserve way more credit than you're giving them.
We also gotta factor in that only 16 teams mattered by that point, and even less by the time Davis played them. 14th definitely undersells them.

[Homer38]

Weren't Houston the best playoff defense heading into the 2nd round? 14th isn't a fair representation of the level they hit defensively in the bubble.

I feel like 7 games against 1 team isn't really a good way to gauge defense.

I can appreciate the sample size issue, but Houston very clearly transformed into a good defensive team in the POs. They did get much better on defense. It showed both in the numbers and on the court. You can argue that they might not have maintained it throughout the playoffs, but what happened while they were in the POs was that teams struggled against them offensively.

They're probably closer to 14th than they are to 1st.

How so? They were literally 1st. Cant imagine any reasonable way to dock them all the way down to 9-13. They deserve way more credit than you're giving them.
We also gotta factor in that only 16 teams mattered by that point, and even less by the time Davis played them. 14th definitely undersells them.

The lakers deserves credit but Houston were way too small and the lakers had a lot of size and skill at the same time.

[RCM88x]

Weren't Houston the best playoff defense heading into the 2nd round? 14th isn't a fair representation of the level they hit defensively in the bubble.

I feel like 7 games against 1 team isn't really a good way to gauge defense.

I can appreciate the sample size issue, but Houston very clearly transformed into a good defensive team in the POs. They did get much better on defense. It showed both in the numbers and on the court. You can argue that they might not have maintained it throughout the playoffs, but what happened while they were in the POs was that teams struggled against them offensively.

They're probably closer to 14th than they are to 1st.

How so? They were literally 1st. Cant imagine any reasonable way to dock them all the way down to 9-13. They deserve way more credit than you're giving them.
We also gotta factor in that only 16 teams mattered by that point, and even less by the time Davis played them. 14th definitely undersells them.

I don't think team rankings after one series show us anything. They played 1 team 7 times, it is in no way indicative of their actual strength relative to the league.

[MyUniBroDavis]

I feel like 7 games against 1 team isn't really a good way to gauge defense.

I can appreciate the sample size issue, but Houston very clearly transformed into a good defensive team in the POs. They did get much better on defense. It showed both in the numbers and on the court. You can argue that they might not have maintained it throughout the playoffs, but what happened while they were in the POs was that teams struggled against them offensively.

They're probably closer to 14th than they are to 1st.

How so? They were literally 1st. Cant imagine any reasonable way to dock them all the way down to 9-13. They deserve way more credit than you're giving them.
We also gotta factor in that only 16 teams mattered by that point, and even less by the time Davis played them. 14th definitely undersells them.

I don't think team rankings after one series show us anything. They played 1 team 7 times, it is in no way indicative of their actual strength relative to the league.

Houstan are a good defense but matchup badly against some teams. La is one of them.

[No-more-rings]

OKC was the 16th ranked ORTG in the regular season, using Houston’s defense against them as evidence of anything is silly.

[grindtime22]

Its crazy how Houston's bubble defense suddenly became elite when a player got injured.

[grindtime22]

As a franchise leader.... give me Jokic I guess. If he is my #2, I will take Davis.

I can see this question answered either way. I get the argument for Davis, but, I have also seen teams led by Anthony Davis due nothing for the majority of his career. I get that the Pelicans were horribly run, but I don't think the Nuggets have had a bunch of great players next to Jokic either. The ceiling may be higher with Davis, but the floor seems to be much higher with Jokic.

[Baski]

I feel like 7 games against 1 team isn't really a good way to gauge defense.

I can appreciate the sample size issue, but Houston very clearly transformed into a good defensive team in the POs. They did get much better on defense. It showed both in the numbers and on the court. You can argue that they might not have maintained it throughout the playoffs, but what happened while they were in the POs was that teams struggled against them offensively.

They're probably closer to 14th than they are to 1st.

How so? They were literally 1st. Cant imagine any reasonable way to dock them all the way down to 9-13. They deserve way more credit than you're giving them.
We also gotta factor in that only 16 teams mattered by that point, and even less by the time Davis played them. 14th definitely undersells them.

I don't think team rankings after one series show us anything. They played 1 team 7 times, it is in no way indicative of their actual strength relative to the league.

Yes but that applies to pretty much any stat that was recorded in the 1st round. I don't think we dismissed anyone's ppg or PER or BPM or whatever just because it was against 1 team. Obviously we acknowledged the sample size issue but still drew some value from the stats, which is what I'm saying we do for Houston here. "Closer to 14th than 1st" is definitely way too dismissive. That's like me saying Davis is closer to average than elite defensively this playoffs because of how the impact stats painted him in the RS.
Basically Houston this POs is much better defensively than their RS rank would imply. I'd personally have them top 5, at worst top 7 these playoffs.

[limbo]

You could put me in any team in the league and we'd have the best defense if i had to guard Dort, Adams and whatever OKC had on the bench aside from Schroder... No shooting/spacing.

Once Houston actually had to defend 5 players with two offensive stars on the floor, they were toast. Even Rondo picked them apart. Getting Westbrook back probably made them even worse.

[dreamshake]

Still a lot of basketball to play, but it wasn't close tonight

Davis 37pts 10reb. 4ast. +15
Jokic. 21pts. 6reb. 2ast. -19

[Pelly24]

I won’t get anything from this series. Give Jokic prime Kobe and I’d give more weight to this matchup.

Besides all of that, this is just one of those bad matchups for this Denver team. They’re very impressive and I don’t see Denver beating utah or the clippers with AD in Jokic’s place. But in this role, AD might be utterly unstoppable.

[frica]

Is AD offensively the best off-ball center of all time?

[MyUniBroDavis]

You could put me in any team in the league and we'd have the best defense if i had to guard Dort, Adams and whatever OKC had on the bench aside from Schroder... No shooting/spacing.

Once Houston actually had to defend 5 players with two offensive stars on the floor, they were toast. Even Rondo picked them apart. Getting Westbrook back probably made them even worse.

Houstan were good at keeping a packed paint when we didnt run 5 out lineups though, and their a ironically good post defense team because theyre smart with how they double and force turnovers

[GSP]

Defense matters. Jokic isnt on Ads level overall