“Nikola Jokic is the greatest center ever” – Tim Legler on Nuggets beat Heat in NBA Finals rematch

“Nikola Jokic is the greatest center ever” – Tim Legler on Nuggets beat Heat in NBA Finals rematch

100 to 88 despite the fact that yic had just 12 points on eight shots Jamal Murray had just 14 points on 14 shots they get the win anyway and thanks in large part to Michael Porter he was the leading score 25 points five of nine from the three-point line but I would

Say to me legs the thing I wanted to start with the nuggets are so impressive in how they can win in every different way a shootout fast break slow down grind it out Force the team to go away from yic go away from Murray and you’re compromised somewhere else I

Thought last night’s win the 10th out of 11 tries since the allstar break for the Denver Nuggets I thought to it was a meaningful one for Denver because it showed you how comfortable not just win but a 12-point win on the road playing a style that Miami was trying to force

They wanted that style of game and Denver dominated that style as well I you basically are summing up like the entire takeaway from the game and I’ll take it a step further you’re Miami wanted to make this game as much of a snail’s pace as possible take the

Three-point shot almost out of the game 16 made threes between the two teams I mean you know think about that that’s that’s just that’s not modern NBA um he’d only had five nuggets had 11 right um and you’re right they were able to win even though the pace was sort of

Being dictated to them and they didn’t care because they know that they are going to be more precise when it matters most and to illustrate how impressive this was from a team standpoint Adam joic and Murray scored a total of two points in the fourth quarter right this

Was a two-point game going into the fourth quarter or whatever it was two or four and they scored 28 points it was their highest scoring quarter right um of the game pretty consistent actually 26 24 22 28 in the fourth highest scoring quarter of the game and joic had one basket Murray didn’t

Score it was it was Michael Porter Jr it was Christian Brown it was pton Watson it was Aaron Gordon Justin holiday and then Reggie Jackson had probably the most significant run of any individual player in the whole game he had seven straight points in the fourth quarter really helped them get some separation

But the fact that you can play a game that is dictated to you and is completely a halfcourt game because that’s what that turned into and Miami likes their chances in those games because they’re very good defensively they also a very good team at executing in those moments

We know they’re incredibly well coached yet despite the fact that it was possession by possession and the importance of these walk it up possessions and your best two players aren’t putting the ball in the basket for you and you still score 28 points and it’s because of the continuity yeah

I love Michael Porter Jr’s interview after we’re gonna talk about that in a second but um it’s it’s just a continuity so everybody’s so comfortable and they know exactly what they are trying to accomplish possession by possession and I just think I love about Denver I think more than anything Adam

And this is joic but it’s now permeated their entire team they’re they’re so simplistic in what they do there is absolutely no wasted motion ball handling nothing nothing is without purpose and it’s so clean and simple and just take what’s there and trust your teammate and they have got great trust

And faith in each other and they’re able to execute in these significant moments and that’s why for me I still trust them more than any team in the NBA if you’re talking about a a a onep possession game fourth quarter late who do you think’s

Going to get the best shots I think the Denver Nuggets are the quality of their possessions are better than everybody else’s you said you trusted them more I’ll go even further I trusted them more coming into the year you know because by virtue of the fact that they were the

Reigning NBA champs but this 11 game stretch since the All-Star break I trust them more than ever is how I would put it and that even includes last year they are playing so connected and that’s what it takes is level of connectivity between your players to to know how to

Read each other but also to trust each other and to say hey if they’re going to overload on this we’re gonna go over here even though it’s not our first option they’re giving us that and we’re going to go to it over and over again Reggie Jackson Michael Porter tonight

You know clearly they were gonna uh overload on joic and Murray Porter’s the recipient he was up for that challenge so Denver there’s that saying that Bruce Lee saying you know be like water if a water goes into the bowl you become the shape of the bowl or whatever Denver is

The epitome of that whatever it is that you the defense forms itself Denver just forms immediately around that takes on that texture and to me these last 11 games they’ve always been this way but these last 11 games have been the most I’ve ever seen of that quality the

Ability to adapt to what the defense has giving you their their ability to adapt it’s the most I’ve seen in the regular season from them it actually reminds me of what they were in the playoffs last year yeah well look and this had that feel to it the whole the whole thing had

That feel to it from the beginning there was just very little runs by either team it kind of stayed within arms distance of each other now I’ll say this bam adab bio did an incredible job on joic like if you go back and you just

Watched H if you had just a camera on bam the entire game and just went ahead and played that possession after possession the amount of energy he was expending to get into front position to three quarter him to dance around him everything he had to do then when he did

Catch in a decent position they were they were running a second Defender at him or if he started to back down somebody was coming and that kind of led to his low shot total for the night but the greatness of jic is that despite the fact that he was being guarded that way

And and and you know basically had so much traffic around him he didn’t really have a lot of room to operate how many guys in the league Adam that are Star players could have that kind of an impact on the game as a screener and just a magnet right for Defenders

Because that’s really what his main role in this game was offensively screen and draw multiple people that’s what he did and it just loosened up things just enough for other guys to have big nights and Michael Porter Jr was Sensational he’s been Sensational since the All-Star

Break I mean this guy is on a roll it’s it’s it’s becoming almost automatic now when he squares up for an open look like you just you don’t doubt it at all like that you know you know where the results going to be um Aaron Gordon was you know

Physical and forceful the way you expect him to be and then they just got these little little pockets of contributions man you know Brown had think seven straight at one point Reggie Jackson had seven straight at a different stretch in the fourth quarter and uh it was just

Man impressive team win and I know look Miami short-handed they don’t have Tyler hero that’s a big element for them Terry Rosier still not quite where he needs to be right um just in general this their fourth straight loss they’re not playing great but they they they forced a style

That gave them the best chance to win and they still didn’t have a chance in the end losing by 12 and I think if you walk away from that game because I I see the perspective of yes but bam guarded yic well they did some things took away

Murray this or that but if you watch that game Denver was not panicked and what you’re talking about is joic never swims Upstream you know he never fights against the game so Bam’s gonna be fronting him he’s using all that energy there’s just something to yoke that

Knows this is a net positive for us because bam is such an important piece for them and if he’s gonna have to give 90% energy to shut me down well then I’m just going to make him work at that and open things up for everybody else so I I

I’m not trying to take anything away from bab bio I love and appreciate and SPO said this after the game you look at he didn’t call these guys out by name but I will you look at Anthony Davis you look at Joel embiid you look at Rudy

Goar a lot of your Mary big defensive bigs they’ve stopped guarding joic they’ve elected instead to go to Aaron Gordon and play this RoR and I get it it’s it makes sense in a certain way but I do think there’s an element of those guys not wanting to be outplayed not not

Wanting to take that challenge bam he’s still the helps side guy but he’s also taking on that challenge with joic every single night and and battling with him and I respect the hell out of it but like I said yoke doesn’t swim upstream he lets the game come to him and if

That’s what the game called on he allowed other people to go and Denver just never looked uncomfortable in this game despite Miami’s best efforts that’s why I’m just that’s what I think sets them apart let me ask you this do you think there’s any other team that can

Win as diverse a games as Denver can slow fast physical finesse three points two points is there any team that you think can win the range of ways that Denver can oh it’s not even close no and that’s why you know you we’re watching this team now and it’s that time of year

And throughout the year look you know they’ve had a good year but it’s also you know you we understood at times watching them and there was they hadit one stretch earlier this season where you know you were you were telling me daily Bas like man something’s going on

With them they’re just not they’re just not there right now because there was no there was no way you could have the same the same level of urgency in the regular season when you just won a championship you just it’s just impossible to maintain that that but now you see

They’re tightening up everything and and now they’re the the focus is there every night and in some ways what you just said I love the point you just made about joic about not swimming Upstream another way to put that is when you look around the league at that the top

Players on these leagues I’m I’m sorry on these teams okay the teams that really think they can challenge Denver their main identity as a player is as a scorer and they’re G to they’re going to keep trying to do that whether it’s Jason Tatum or Luca or Kevin Durant or

Giannis whoever it may be no matter what hell or high water if they’re having an off night shooting guess what they’re gonna keep doing that because that’s what is the main identity as a player now look all those guys are are well-rounded players they do other

Things but that is the main thing that they’re trying to get accomplished every night and that’s not necessarily the case with joic so on nights when he’s being defended a certain way because he doesn’t have the that mentality of trying to get 30 like I think that that

That guys are like feeling like that’s what they need to do for their team he doesn’t feel that way so he isn’t gonna force it into bad spots he’s not gonna take you know a bunch of mid-range jumpers with guys draped on him because he’s trying to get to that number and I

Even saying they’re thinking about the number but that’s the way they think they need to play for their team to win he doesn’t think that so as a result no matter what the game is looking like in front of him he can accept that he can

Embrace it and now I’ll just figure out a way to beat you with what’s given now there’s some nights he gets great post position and he’ll just School guys and he’ll have the 3540 Point night he can do that you want to play me a certain

Way good luck I’ll do that to you but if you get played like he did last night there are very few guys in this league on his level that would just like kind of accept that and morph into something else to beat a team they’re G to keep

Shooting the ball and they’re going to be seven for 23 at the end of the game because they took a bunch of tough shots and it actually hurt their team so the mentality that he has actually helps him big time in a game like last night well

I’ll just go screen rebound and I’ll I’ll be the guy that’s just drawing so much attention the game is really easy on the weak side of the floor yeah and this nuggets team I just the the connected level they’ve played in and I I think we talked about this a few weeks

Back coming out of the All-Star break yic sent a text message to the team that allegedly fired everybody up and I we don’t know the contents of it you can imagine something to the lines of it’s go time the opportunity is there nobody’s better than us let’s go out and

Prove it and you just look at this 11 game stretch they lost one game in overtime that was a Kevin Durant buzzer beater three away from being a win for Denver so you look at that and just say Denver h for For spe spee for Fore spee Speech fore spee foree Foree foreign Foree fore foree speech for spee Foreign For Foree For

“Nikola Jokic is the greatest center ever” – Tim Legler on Nuggets beat Heat in NBA Finals rematch