God Vs. Thunder: Nikola Jokic And The OKC Problem
How OKC has flummoxed and annoyed the Greatest Nugget of All Time.
Monday is OKC, again.
Michael Malone once said, before the Thunder were contenders, even back in 2023, that playing the Thunder was like a root canal. They were disciplined and tough, and took a lot from you.
The Lakers had the answer for Jokic in 2020 but soon after he solved all the problems they presented. Everyone else has been solved… except for OKC. It’s become clear that his version of OKC with Alex Caruso and the core developed has found answers to take away what “being a Jokic team” means for Denver.
Jokic has averaged 25-13-8 vs. the Thunder on 56% eFG, compared to 28-13-10 on 61% in all of his games.
Here’s the prototypical setup for what Jokic sees.
He brings the ball up and they screen which gets a smaller defender, Lu Dort, onto Jokic. But when Jokic resets the post, immediately Dort swings in front, faceguarding him and holding him1. While Murray repositions, Holmgren lets Spencer Jones go to the weakside, putting three weakside Nuggets options open with only two defenders.
The Thunder do this over and over, “flooding the zone” on the interior around Jokic and waiting for him to try and make a play inside.
Using that gravity, the Nuggets swing to the top and then the side instead of risking the ball reversal, finding Watson for an open three.
The execution here is massive, if unsatisfying. I’m not saying Jokic has to be a decoy vs. the Thunder, but if they are going to absolutely sell-out on him, the weakside has to make plays to punish that every time and get the Thunder guessing.
