Why did Denver’s role players have such big nights in Game 4? This detailed film room study examines how Miami’s defense tried to stop Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic as scorers, the Nuggets supporting cast on offense and defense, and Jokic’s defense protecting the paint.
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Ben Taylor is the author of Thinking Basketball, a Nylon Calculus contributor, creator of the Backpicks Top 40 series & host of the Thinking Basketball podcast.
Stats courtesy:
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20 Comments
Ngl I think everyone knew that lol imagine mj without his role players like pippen and Dennis
Who needs a shot blocker when you can just kick every pass?
Haven’t seen Bruce Brown play since he left Brooklyn. He was practically an undersized 4 with a floater and corner three. Seeing him now essentially be the backup point running p&r on a championship team is incredible. I respect the work it took for him to get to this point in just two years.
Miami Heat had lost confidence in playing the game because Denver Nuggets played offensively at the different level. The Heat must realize that it is almost impossible to stop them. To be frank, there is no competition against Nuggets because they are too stronger and smarter.
Excellent analysis – thanks. It is disrespectful from those 34K who view it, but only 2.3K Likes. People need to show at least minimum of appreciation – someone put an effort, knowledge, time…
I never even seen those foot blocks before. Joker is diff
I have a feeling they are going to end up making a harsher foul on kicked balls now.
Not bad for Jokic's runner up MVP, and Mike Malone's Seventh place finish as COY
These are the real superteams.
You made me think different about basketball ❤️
Jokic's defense has been quietly good at times?! Really????
He has been GERAT defensively the whole playoffs and especially in the finals, yesterday had 7 deflections, 3 steals and 3 blocks…not to mention that he is the best rebounder in the league…defense is more than just blocks…
Jokic is GREAT defender!
You should talk about Jimmy's aggressiveness during this finals.
What I noticed is that Jimmy seems to be less aggressive when Jokic is on the floor.
Makes me wonder what's on Jimmy's mind why he's like that.
Right now.. i really don't see any team competing against Nuggets to have any chance.. maybe Bucks idk.. still believe Giannis will explode again.. all rest are.. idk man.. something doesn't work with most of the teams, there is nice players etc.. just not clicking.. no matter which team you choose.
your leader is backing you up and getting you open
There are just people out there who don't understand how valuable a good role player is to a team. They don't really realise that to win it all , it's just not all about the superstars. This is a great example of why it's a team effort to win on a team sport.
Give credit to Miami for keeping up with this Denver squad, any other team would have been blown out the waters
I'm surprised that purposely kicking the ball that many times is not a technical foul or something
Wilt Chamblain in High School can beat any NBA Team
https://youtu.be/FaHVqwF_LxM
I wonder if more teams in the future would start using kicked ball as a way to prevent wide open shots. The breakdown in this video and the previous one continues to show just how talented the Nuggets are and whatever Coach Spo and the Heat try to deter Denver's offense, there's too many wrinkles that can't be covered.
I think Murray played sloppy as hell. He rushed a lot and took a lot of bad shots. Those role players could have had an even bigger night if Murray didn't jack up so many low percentage, well defended shots.