Over the course of his career, there has really never been any reason to doubt or question Nikola Jokic. Even when things have gone wrong for the Nuggets, it has rarely been his fault, and even taking off the Rocky Blue glasses, there have always been very reasonable and understandable excuses.
One thing that has never been cause for concern is Jokic’s individual matchup on offense. Even against the league’s best, he has dominated, and that certainly includes four-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert.
The two great big men have faced off many times over the years, dating back to Rudy’s time in Utah, and for the most part, Jokic has always had the upper hand. Even two years ago, when the T-Wolves beat the Nuggets, they finally found success with Karl-Anthony Towns guarding Jokic and Gobert roaming.
So this season, with KAT out of the picture, there was no real reason for concern heading into the series, assuming Jokic would take Rudy’s lunch like usual. But to the shock and horror of Nuggets Nation, we’ve seen the exact opposite.
Gobert having legacy-defining performance against Jokic
Through three games, despite what I expected to happen, it’s impossible to deny that Gobert has done an outstanding job of guarding Jokic one-on-one and has come as close as anyone has to truly shutting down the three-time MVP.
I, along with many others, assumed that Jokic would dominate the likes of Julius Randle and Naz Reid, which would force Rudy to play Joker straight up. I figured that would drag Gobert out of the paint and open things up for the Nuggets’ slashers and cutters. That hasn’t been the case at all.
Gobert re-writing playoff narratives with play on Joker
Jokic’s shot has completely abandoned him at the worst possible time, Gobert is hardly respecting it, and he’s been able to sit back, protecting the rim, and stepping up to meet Jokic in and around the paint, where he has more than held his own.
For the series, Jokic is shooting just 26-65 from the field, only 5-24 from three, he has 22 assists to 12 turnovers, and he has a net rating of -11 for the series. Those may not seem awful for some, but for Jokic, that’s beyond uncharacteristic and borderline devastating. His 7-26 shooting night, with just 3 assists and 4 turnovers, felt like his poor play and frustration boiling over into an all-time bad performance.
A lot of this is on Joker. His wrist is bothering him. Maybe his knee is as well. Aaron Gordon and Peyton Watson are out. Still, he needs to play and shoot better. But also, while Joker deserves criticism, Gobert deserves a ton of credit. He has been amazing, and through three games, he has largely flipped the narrative around his playoff career as he’s clearly outplaying Nikola.
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