Ranking the Denver Nuggets potential playoff matchups
By Alex Murray
Denver Nuggets ideal playoff matchup #3: Dallas Mavericks
This isn’t quite the ideal matchup for the Nuggets, but how cool would it be to see Slovenian Luka Doncic lead his Dallas Mavericks against Serbian Nikola Jokic and his Nuggets! It would be quite the hoops reunion for the two states that formed Yugoslavia together a century ago. Tito would be so proud! (I think.)
Slavic history aside, Jokic and Doncic are undoubtedly two of the most exciting players hooping today. Doncic is a supernova that has yet to reach its full potential, and it seems like the Big Cevapi is still cooking bigger and better things too.
Not to mention that their bromance will add another level of entertainment to this potential matchup. They gave us a taste at All-Star Weekend:
The Luka Doncic-Nikola Jokic banter continued until the very last minute.
— Callie Caplan (@CallieCaplan) February 21, 2022
Just after Luka noticed he was stationed next to Jokic again and asked for a small ball, Jokic threw one at him as he left.
Luka threw it back … and missed.
“Just like my free throws, man.” pic.twitter.com/tnj23jZY88
The two kept going back and forth throughout media appearances and it seems like they have an honest friendship, more than just acting nice for the camera.
Luka Doncic and Nikola Jokic had their interview podiums right next to each other, and they obviously took full advantage to mess with each other.
— Callie Caplan (@CallieCaplan) February 19, 2022
After Jokic pelted Luka with a little nerf basketball, Luka asked: “Can I sue him?” pic.twitter.com/WG4DiuowNP
These two titans of Balkan Hoops have already proved that they can not only entertain at the podiums but also on the hardwood, where they’ve already given us a classic duel that I imagine would only be an appetizer to what we’d get in an actual playoff series.
Obviously, he didn’t do it in the above matchup, but in a seven-game series, I truly believe that Aaron Gordon could cause Luka some problems with his superior size and athleticism. He just can’t allow Luka Magic to get him on his hip, because once that happens, you’ve got no chance.
Apart from that, the Mavericks have no reasonable candidates for the job of taking on the Big Honey. Boban Marjanovic has never been given consistently consistent minutes by the Mavericks and Dwight Powell is a backup.
Last but not least, this would probably be the matchup with the biggest chasm in terms of depth and bench play. During the month of March, the Nuggets are fifth in the NBA with 42.3 bench points per game while the Mavericks have dropped to dead-last in that category over the same stretch with just 22.5 points coming from the reserves.
As Shaq loves to say, the ‘other guys’ are crucial in the playoffs, and it doesn’t seem like Doncic has any.
