When Aaron Gordon heard the question, his eyes nearly rolled out of their sockets.
Asked whether he appreciated watching Nikola Jokic go to work against Brook Lopez, the potential Defensive Player of the Year, in Saturday’s 129-106 romp over the Bucks, Gordon stared knowingly up from his locker room stall.
His long side-eye forecast the answer that followed.
“Can’t nobody stop Joker, man,” Gordon said. “I don’t care, Defensive Player of the Year. It doesn’t matter. And he was getting fouled. If you’re not fouling him, you’re not stopping him. And he was fouling him, and he was still getting buckets. They weren’t calling and-1s. He’s ridiculous.”
Jokic battered and bludgeoned and spun his way to 31 points on 10-of-20 shooting, with 11 assists and six rebounds. He went to the free-throw line 11 times, abusing Milwaukee’s decision to play him one-on-one. If he wasn’t muscling through the No. 1 defense, then he was pirouetting around it.
“His footwork, his touch around the rim, the way that he feels the defense and plays off of the defense, it’s incredible, levels ahead of anything I’ve ever seen,” Gordon said.
Late in the first quarter, Jokic set up on the left block and drilled Lopez deeper and deeper into the paint. It was the equivalent of hand-to-hand combat but for NBA giants. The pace and conviction that he forged his position suggested he knew Lopez couldn’t contain him.
I can't stop watching this. One of the most ruthless, devastating post moves I've ever seen Jokic make. pic.twitter.com/C3rQ72DoSg
— Mike Singer (@msinger) March 26, 2023
Once he had him where he wanted him, a subtle shoulder shimmy froze Lopez, before Jokic swept under the hesitation and finished with his off-hand. Lopez got whistled for a foul, which was followed by a look of astonishment at the sequence.
“It’s tough because he’s good at drawing the foul,” Lopez told The Post. “You gotta be smart about that. … You gotta meet his hits.”
Jokic finished floaters, spin-moves and odd-angled hook shots. He seized on his deceptive quickness, baiting Lopez into the air only to finish in another direction.
Though there were moments when Jokic’s footwork and touch looked like he was paying homage to classic back-to-the-basket big men, he refused to take credit for the chess match that played out between the two of them.
“I don’t think that much, to be honest,” said Jokic, one of the most cerebral players in the game. “If I cannot go this way, I’m gonna go this way. If not, I’m gonna force it. I think it’s not really that complicated.”
Jokic was downplaying the matchup, perhaps out of respect, or perhaps for competitive advantage. It’s more than plausible that these two teams could be on a collision course in June.
“He’s really good,” Jokic said. “He doesn’t jump on pump-fakes. He’s long arms, kinda heavy, smart. … I like him as a player.”
Nuggets coach Michael Malone said he’s tried to consider how opposing coaches feel going against Jokic and the difficult decisions he mandates. With single coverage, theoretically, opponents can shadow Denver’s shooters. But on Saturday, the Nuggets buried 15 of their 36 attempts from 3-point range.
Malone concluded he was “almost unguardable,” for the way he manipulates defenses and bends them to his will. Recognizing how physical Saturday’s game was being played, Malone told Jokic early on to save his temper and let him pick up the technical foul instead. He’s far too valuable to jeopardize with an ejection.
“I understand the pecking order here,” Malone joked.
So does everybody else.
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