Jokic playing great D on Giannis

[Peregrine01]

All possessions where Jokic was guarding Giannis 1 on 1 in today's Serbia/Greece game. Only got scored on once. IMO, Jokic has gotten a lot better on D...he just looks bad against the Dray/Steph pick and roll but pretty much everyone does as well.

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[Pumpkin17]

Jokic is better than people credit him for on defense and FIBA setting/rules take away some of Giannis' strenght/moves, It's a combination of the two.

[CharityStripe34]

Jokic is a smart player and positions himself well for good contests. That and he's a pretty big dude with girth.

[SelfishPlayer]

Isn't the FIBA court smaller in dimensions than the NBA court therefore reducing the significance of athleticism?

[UcanUwill]

this was probably the best game of 2022, moment of silence for ones who missed it.

[UcanUwill]

Jokic is better than people credit him for on defense and FIBA setting/rules take away some of Giannis' strenght/moves, It's a combination of the two.

Giannis scored 40 points in this game...

[Pachinko_]

Eh, no.
He botched the P&R at 1:30 and 2:15, and at 2:28 he didn't bother to return to D even though Giannis was technically his player.

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There is a reason why Jokic was guarding Kostas and not Giannis (while Kostas was in the game): Jokic can't run. So if you leave him on Giannis all game he might get some wins in half court defense like the ones you posted, because he does position his body very well, but overall Giannis will finish with 40 or more just from outrunning him. Which he did anyway.

[Peregrine01]

Yeah. Jokic is still vulnerable to pick and rolls where he just doesn't have the foot speed to recover. He should really only play drop...sometimes Serbia messed up their coverage. But one on one, Giannis had difficulty scoring on him.

Jokic's biggest defensive weakness is having to come up high on pick and rolls, i.e. playing against the Warriors.

[UcanUwill]

Giannis will score on anyone in a few pick and rolls, and come on, you singling out Jokic for not running back on d where his team loses the ball near the half court line. Overall, late in game, they guarded each other and Jokic had great scores on Giannis, where on the other side, Jokic didnt allow him to drive, forced him into taking jumpers, and Giannis missed most of those in the clutch. All in all, both players had great games, but non center Giannis had more trouble defending center Jokic, than non forward Jokic had trouble guarding forward Giannis, at least late in game, where they went head to head.

[Peregrine01]

Giannis will score on anyone in a few pick and rolls, and come on, you singling out Jokic for not running back on d where his team loses the ball near the half court line. Overall, late in game, they guarded each other and Jokic had great scores on Giannis, where on the other side, Jokic didnt allow him to drive, forced him into taking jumpers, and Giannis missed most of those in the clutch. All in all, both players had great games, but non center Giannis had more trouble defending center Jokic, than non forward Jokic had trouble guarding forward Giannis, at least late in game, where they went head to head.

He isn't thought of as such but Jokic is the most unstoppable one on one player in the game.

[CharityStripe34]

Isn't the FIBA court smaller in dimensions than the NBA court therefore reducing the significance of athleticism?

Ever so slightly, yes. And there's no defensive-3 second violations or illegal defense. So big dudes can camp out near the rim.

[Pachinko_]

Eh. Giannis missed a couple of open threes, dunked on him once, won a couple of P&Rs, scored a bunch in transition, lost a couple of short range battles where he was making up his mind in the air, made some passes, threw a couple of passes in the stands, got fouled a bunch, airballed a free throw, ended up with 40.
It all seems pretty normal Giannis.

[CharityStripe34]

Giannis will score on anyone in a few pick and rolls, and come on, you singling out Jokic for not running back on d where his team loses the ball near the half court line. Overall, late in game, they guarded each other and Jokic had great scores on Giannis, where on the other side, Jokic didnt allow him to drive, forced him into taking jumpers, and Giannis missed most of those in the clutch. All in all, both players had great games, but non center Giannis had more trouble defending center Jokic, than non forward Jokic had trouble guarding forward Giannis, at least late in game, where they went head to head.

The two late post-up possessions where Joker scored on Gianni were the result of good positioning by the former and a bit of gambling by the latter, which he sometimes does. Gianni tried to get a steal a couple of times and Joker used the shift in leverage to get into scoring positions. Was a fun match-up to watch. Jokic also has sneaky length for his rainbow hook-shots.

[eyeatoma]

Giannis scored 40, cmon.

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[Ruma85]

Giannis scored 40, cmon.

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Meaning you cannot play great defence if someone scores 40??

[SelfishPlayer]

Isn't the FIBA court smaller in dimensions than the NBA court therefore reducing the significance of athleticism?

Ever so slightly, yes. And there's no defensive-3 second violations or illegal defense. So big dudes can camp out near the rim.

Sounds like the old NBA.

[og15]

Those possessions were good, Serbia obviously played the smart way on Giannis in those possessions, box and 1, defender stunting or doubling when he was inside the arc, clogging the lane.

Sometimes there's only so much you can do against certain players, and Jokic for the most part played quite well in those possessions and followed the plan.

[og15]

Isn't the FIBA court smaller in dimensions than the NBA court therefore reducing the significance of athleticism?

Ever so slightly, yes. And there's no defensive-3 second violations or illegal defense. So big dudes can camp out near the rim.

Sounds like the old NBA.

NBA didn't have both no 3 second and no illegal defense in any relevant time of the league

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

Giannis scored 40, cmon.

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Don't they only play 40 minutes?

[Lockdown504090]

this is entirely different than defending in the nba. its not comparable at all.