Why is there silence after another Jokic embarrassing defeat?

[Black Jack]

I refuse to stay silent! This is an outrage Mr. Jokic! Absolutely unacceptable.

[Lalouie]

i don't jump ship!

greatness is F***G greatness. centers don't generally control the rock,,great as jokic is - and there's the rub

maybe they should have let jokic literally do everything but i guess they didn't

Well they let him try to defend in space and he was attacked relentlessly in the 4th qtr. https://youtu.be/K9JLo_2Zs94?si=0gbWQTgqKC1wgiwA

Just from that little highlight clip I count 16 points alone given up by the guy Jokic was responsible for in 4th qtr. Lazy late closeouts on 3s, slow footed and unable to guard in space on the perimeter. Loses his man several times when it's clutch time. Everybody on the team was going right at the best player in the world when it mattered the most. Guys who most never heard of.

Yeah Jokic put up his usual great stats on offense but what good is 33 points when you are giving up 20 points in one qtr with lazy defense.

well of course. but he's already won a ring so we know he's fully capable
he's not playing in the 90s or 80s or 70s or any of the monsters those decades had to offer. so there's that . he's playing now and he is the best

i'd worry more about defense if he was playing back then, but the 3 rules today

[tsherkin]

He already was exposed by Caruso in game 7, when he was held scoreless in the second half of a game 7.

He wasn't held scoreless in Game 7 versus the Thunder, though. He was held to 3/3/4 in the 3rd quarter and like 2 minutes of the fourth, and then sat because they were blown out. No talk of Murray's 4-point first half (or shooting 6/16 on the game), or the 3 points the bench scored in the first half. Or how Jalen Williams was 8/12 in the first half, scoring 17 to SGA's 12 and Jokic's 17. Or how Westbrook, Strawther and Watson combined to shoot 6/23 from the field off the bench.

It certainly wasn't an ideal scoring performance from Jokic, but he's a primary playmaker and he got no scoring support in that game. He'd been doing everything for them all series to even get them to that point in the first place. Or did you forget that Murray shot 40.5 / 30.6 FG/3P for a 52.8% TS (-3.6% rTS vs playoff league average)? And that Westbrook and (injured) MPJ logged 45.3% and 42.2% TS in that series? Watson 38.6%. Jokic was a 28/14/6 guy in that series, and the 6 only because no one was hitting shots. Aaron Gordon was shooting under 45% from the field, after having shot a shade over 53% on the RS. He was about a 15 ppg player in the RS, about 16 in the PS, and managed 8 in that game 7, with the hamstring injury limiting him.

It's a little annoying to see context-absent arguments about Jokic, when people are perfectly fine laying context for other players, like Kobe, Jordan and Lebron.

[SpurNani]

He already was exposed by Caruso in game 7, when he was held scoreless in the second half of a game 7.

He wasn't held scoreless in Game 7 versus the Thunder, though. He was held to 3/3/4 in the 3rd quarter and like 2 minutes of the fourth, and then sat because they were blown out. No talk of Murray's 4-point first half (or shooting 6/16 on the game), or the 3 points the bench scored in the first half. Or how Jalen Williams was 8/12 in the first half, scoring 17 to SGA's 12 and Jokic's 17. Or how Westbrook, Strawther and Watson combined to shoot 6/23 from the field off the bench.

It certainly wasn't an ideal scoring performance from Jokic, but he's a primary playmaker and he got no scoring support in that game. He'd been doing everything for them all series to even get them to that point in the first place. Or did you forget that Murray shot 40.5 / 30.6 FG/3P for a 52.8% TS (-3.6% rTS vs playoff league average)? And that Westbrook and (injured) MPJ logged 45.3% and 42.2% TS in that series? Watson 38.6%. Jokic was a 28/14/6 guy in that series, and the 6 only because no one was hitting shots. Aaron Gordon was shooting under 45% from the field, after having shot a shade over 53% on the RS. He was about a 15 ppg player in the RS, about 16 in the PS, and managed 8 in that game 7, with the hamstring injury limiting him.

It's a little annoying to see context-absent arguments about Jokic, when people are perfectly fine laying context for other players, like Kobe, Jordan and Lebron.

For all intents and purposes, he was held scoreless in game 7 vs OKC in second half. The man took and made a wide open pity shot at 11.1 left in 3rd qtr to cut the lead down to 24. There is no excuse you can come up with for the best player in the world to not go down at least swinging. 1 shot all 2nd half when down 27 is inexcusable.

And you say Jokic was the reason it was a game 7 vs OKC, did you forget that Jokic literally had an 8/25 game with 2 points in the 4th qtr and Denver still won game 3 due to Aaron Gordon's heroics?

Or Game 4 when he went 7/22 and missed 3 big free throws late in 4th qtr when Denver had opportunity to take commanding 3-1 lead on their homecourt?

You say context matters but only focus on his teammates. What about the 33 turnovers Jokic accounted for that series? If we are being real, Jokic had 2 great games that series that make his counting stats look good but he wasn't up to his normal standard that series. That was a great series but it didn't solely go 7 because of how great Jokic is. I wish people would stop saying that.

[GusT15]

Overall, basketball is team sport. Blaming or praising one man for everything is dumb.

I agree with everything you said but i want to highlight this quote.

This is the problem for many fans on this board when reading/reacting to Jokic posts the last years...

Man has an excellent offensive 4-5 year peak and suddenly he's the clear cut best in the world.
He should have won not 3 but 5 MVPs,he is amazing,his team sucks,he is better than the Dream,he is better than Duncan,he would beat Shaq in the 00s etc etc...

Thing is,Jokic is a top3 player in the NBA for half a decade and won a ring.
He is an amazing Offensive big man and a highly limited Defensive player.

Hyberbole from fans during his wins will bring hyperbole from non fans during his losses..
That's how it goes...

[KGtabake]

The problem was that Micic who's a former MVP in Euroleague was inexplicably bad.
Once Bogdanovic went down, Micic should step up. He didn't and Serbia suddenly had no help from guards.
Bogdanovic has always been the x factor in FIBA tournaments.
Jokic can't do everything alone, noone can.

[Zadeh]

in game 7, referee was scott foster.

in that series when scott foster as referee Sga shoot per %72 and +83 net rating, when not refereed by scott foster sga shoot %47 and net rating is -14.

[pepe1991]

The problem was that Micic who's a former MVP in Euroleague was inexplicably bad.
Once Bogdanovic went down, Micic should step up. He didn't and Serbia suddenly had no help from guards.
Bogdanovic has always been the x factor in FIBA tournaments.
Jokic can't do everything alone, noone can.

Micić literally doesn't look like old Micić.



To this



Guy went from "I'm man's man and pro who never skips workouts" to "9-5 dad, plays basketball twice a month, eating right is hard, kids are nagging, wife wants out"

He looks out of shape for two years now, he got fat, lost all his muscles and has no lateral quickness whatsoever. He is 31, turning 49.

It's crazy, he was in so much better playing shape in Europe than he is in NBA. That McDonalds diet ain't working buddy

[Dr Aki]

I mean, it's pretty obvious Jokic is a one-way player. He's always been a one-way player, he'll always be a one-way player. The Nuggets have always employed athletic wings and guards and a defensive system to prevent Jokic from being continuously hunted on the perimeter.

That doesn't seem to hurt his ranking though. Players like Curry, Luka, KAT etc... and going further back Shaq and Magic were defensively disinclined.

You just have to have the personnel and to gameplan around their defensive weaknesses.

[Mavrelous]

The problem was that Micic who's a former MVP in Euroleague was inexplicably bad.
Once Bogdanovic went down, Micic should step up. He didn't and Serbia suddenly had no help from guards.
Bogdanovic has always been the x factor in FIBA tournaments.
Jokic can't do everything alone, noone can.

Micić literally doesn't look like old Micić.



To this



Guy went from "I'm man's man and pro who never skips workouts" to "9-5 dad, plays basketball twice a month, eating right is hard, kids are nagging, wife wants out"

He looks out of shape for two years now, he got fat, lost all his muscles and has no lateral quickness whatsoever. He is 31, turning 49.

It's crazy, he was in so much better playing shape in Europe than he is in NBA. That McDonalds diet ain't working buddy

It's crying over spilled milk at thia point, but Topic should have been there, Turkish coach had a rant about roster spot limit

[sashaturiaf]

Another day, another MVP exposed

[PlatinumState]

Finland played out of their minds and wanted it more. Thats all there is to it

[psimanic1]

As soon as Bogdan went down, they were not favorites anymore...You look at Nuggets past seasons, and you see that for Jokic team to really be good, you need shooters around him, actual shooters not guys that "can make it", and what you have? You have two guys shooting 2/14 from 3pt and still loosing by 6..If you had just one more actual shooter, and I'm sure Serbia has those, they probably have one of the biggest players pool in Europe, they would probably still be in it. And when you have Jokic, you don't need 4 centers, they had 3 Jokic, Petrusev and Milutinov, and they also had Vukcevic who can play C...

[dzumaal]

If Finland and Serbia played 10 games against each other Serbia would win 8 or 9. It was one of those punchers chance games. And this is coming from a finn.

Finland played great though. Finally had a good offensive and defensive plans compared to games against Germany and Lithuania.

So I wouldn't put that loss on Jokic at all.

[Blame Rasho]

Y’all just have to learn to stop responding to obvious burners and previously banned posters.

Orrrr… we can just ban them, suspend them and etc… but that would make too much sense.

[BelgradeNugget]

Well for those who didn't watch, Finland played great game, outhustled Serbia (20 O boards) and deserved win. Markannen is great, he must get out of Utah.

On Serbia's side Jokic was terribly out of shape, at least 15 lbs overweight, slow on defense and was a big part of Serbia giving so many 3s in every game. Injuries struck important players - Bogdanović, Avramović, Vukčević. Some players were sick for 2-3 days before Finland game (Jović).

A lot of players had better torurnament than Jokic - Luka, Shengun, Giannis, Markannen...

BUT...you don't become the best player in the world after one season, or playoff run, or tournament, it takes time to climb on top...
so sory haters, Jokic is still No1 for now.

[Bergmaniac]

OP has 0 posts in the Eurobasket thread, BTW, he doesn't care about it at all except when he can use it in his latest tedious anti-Jokic rant.

[cupcakesnake]

Sure. Let's call a spade a spade on what Jokic is...the current best player in the world.

The current best player who can't get out the second round in NBA and can't lead his heavily favored national team past the round of 16 without Bogdan Bogdanovic

Anything can happen in a single-elimination tournament. That's kind of the fun of them.
You're trying too hard to be negative here.

[Joao Saraiva]

It's just a loss in a win or go home tournament. That can happen. Dude still was great even tough a bit out of shape.

Basketball evolved a lot and is global now. Even the weakest teams play good basketball, it's not like in previous eras. That's why even USA with a roster of all-stars doesn't coast anymore in FIBA tournaments, and even they can be defeated and almost were against Serbia.

It is what it is. Jokic still had a good tournament, so I doubt a team defeat should be such a hard knock on him.

About the Nuggets... you put SGA in there and they're not out in the 2nd round, that's for sure. They might be out in the play-in or even before that.

[kingr]

Because this is realgm and he isn't held to the standards of goats.