Which player is actually ‘best’ at guarding Nikola Jokic
For whatever reason before the WCF in 2023, there was a conception that Anthony Davis does very well against Nikola Jokic however that narrative has completely flipped.
I’ve seen Nurkic, Ayton, Draymond and Gobert mentioned before but the facts (stats) seem untrue.
While there might not be a Jokic stopper, is there an actual player that defends Jokic well to the point of keeping him to or below his averages?
Draymond Green
How does Embiid do against Jokic because he’s bigger and probably stronger and is a great rim protector
Joking was cooking Embiid in the first half of that 47 point game. The 76ers then switched PJ Tucker on Jokic in the second half and slowed him down
It was more so to allow Embiid to stay near the rim rather than get pull away and Jokic hit a cutter for an easy 2 since no one else in the team can protect the rim
Embiid is better at guarding Jokic than Jokic is Embiid (at least that seems clear in their limited matchups), but I don’t think either is great at it. I think Embiid could be but he’s always kinda worn down on the offensive end.
I think 1vs1 it is only Jokic mindset that could stop him, while 1v2 I think Towns and Gobert did a decent job and I totally see that Allen+Mobley could do damage too (but there are no statistical evidence)
Then if you look at numbers last year the only team that make Jokic look bad was Chicago for some reason. 13ppg in with 55%FG and 60%TS in 2 games is the worst he had with any team (still a +11.5 tho). Another notable was Utah, with more relevance too. I think the length of the Jazz really bothered the Joker in RS vs them.
I had to scroll so far for anyone to acknowledge the Bulls. Vucic is not an amazing rim protector for slashing guards but he plays well against “softer” bigs. That and the Bulls elite guard D shuts down most of his passing options.
I’m definitely biased but Embiid held him to a pretty low stat line the last time they played head to head
OG Anunoby
Grant “Batman” Williams
Jokic reminds me of Tyson Furry, he’s so big and physical that he tiers you with his physicality. So if there’s a player that it’s good at guarding him on the perimeter he bullies that player with his physicality and gets him tired. If a player that is more physical then him guards him well in the inside he’ll make you run around and get the player chase him on the perimeter and gets the player tired like that.
The only way to distract him is send someone to Serbia to shoot his horse
Will Barton
Gp2
Prime Marc Gasol probably would be the best recent player.
Going back further, Hakeem, Duncan, Garnett, Dikembe. Not many others tbh…
Wemby
We’ve actually had success putting OG on Jokic but that’s more for guarding the Nuggets as a team than Jokic 1 on 1
I think Bam did a great job in the finals. It just didn’t matter cause Bam wasn’t big enough but he put himself in great positions to stop Jokic. Jokic just scored anyways
Sct Brn played him very well last year from a eye test and statistical perspective
nobody lmao, your only hope is to have someone like steph or dame who you can get him switched into on the other end and outscore them