If any other all-time center was getting guarded by a guard in a game 7......

[StatUS]

Spin off Caruso and go where, exactly?

OKC were packing the paint and leaving his teammates open. There was nowhere for him to go, that's why you see him getting the ball by the 3-pt line because OKC was just playing off MPJ, Russ, Peyton, Braun etc and throwing multiple bodies at him. If they had dependable shooting, then OKC wouldn't have been allowed to cheat and he'd by going 1v1 and winning that matchup 90% of the time.

I said all that. The point is to get better positioning. They were cheating the post at the free throw line to Jokic. He would just go to the spot and put his back into Caruso and hope for the best lol. And they were really only playing off Westbrook. Everyone else was just missing shots. OKC was missing shots too for awhile so that really just comes down to jump shot variance.

I've just honestly never see such a great big get bullied like that by someone undersized since maybe earlier versions of Dirk. I just don't recall players like Hakeem, Shaq, or even Duncan getting played like that.

Maybe when they put Jrue Holliday on Embiid but he was probably dealing with some stupid injury or being a hoe or something.

 

[seraphx]

I said all that. The point is to get better positioning. They were cheating the post at the free throw line to Jokic. He would just go to the spot and put his back into Caruso and hope for the best lol. And they were really only playing off Westbrook. Everyone else was just missing shots. OKC was missing shots too for awhile so that really just comes down to jump shot variance.

I've just honestly never see such a great big get bullied like that by someone undersized since maybe earlier versions of Dirk. I just don't recall players like Hakeem, Shaq, or even Duncan getting played like that.

Maybe when they put Jrue Holliday on Embiid but he was probably dealing with some stupid injury or being a hoe or something.

Literally the whole point of this thread. Dude got manhandled by an undersized guard in a game 7 and people in here Juelzing about it. Jokic is great this was just a funny and bad game

 

[Gil Scott-Heroin]

I said all that. The point is to get better positioning. They were cheating the post at the free throw line to Jokic. He would just go to the spot and put his back into Caruso and hope for the best lol. And they were really only playing off Westbrook. Everyone else was just missing shots. OKC was missing shots too for awhile so that really just comes down to jump shot variance.

The further he was getting towards the paint, the harder it was to post up, because it meant more defenders could surround him (most notably another big guarding whomever was by the dunker spot).

He actually did seal off Caruso and other guards multiple times down low. You know what happened? His teammates couldn’t get him the ball. Murray’s the only one who can consistently deliver entry passes and that’s why Jokic kept coming up to the high post to get the ball, otherwise, more often than not it would result in a turnover.

Murray was the only one who was guarded properly too. They were leaving everyone else open if it meant they could show with another defender on him. What further exacerbated this was because AG couldn’t move on offense they’d shut down the side of the floor Jokic was on and not even entertain the thought of AG coming baseline (when Jokic draws multiple defenders), which is a go-to play for them to break up the defense, capitalizing on the 5v4.

I've just honestly never see such a great big get bullied like that by someone undersized since maybe earlier versions of Dirk. I just don't recall players like Hakeem, Shaq, or even Duncan getting played like that.

Maybe when they put Jrue Holliday on Embiid but he was probably dealing with some stupid injury or being a hoe or something.

They weren’t bullying shyt.

They weren’t doing a whole lot differently from the other games.

You know what changed? The effectiveness of the support cast due to fatigue, health and the nature of role players playing worse on the road.

 

[DonRe]

All these excuses. Its a game 7. Two heavy weights.

They couldn't string múltiple wins together. shyt falls on your stars. He had 31 turnovers in this series. His free throw shooting was shyt too

Give him flowers but lets not turn a blind eye to his shortcomings.

 

[Gil Scott-Heroin]

Literally the whole point of this thread. Dude got manhandled by an undersized guard in a game 7 and people in here Juelzing about it. Jokic is great this was just a funny and bad game

Small players, particularly guards, are allowed to get away with a ton of physicality on big men. But if bigs try to use any sort of force the other way, officials are quick to call them for offensive fouls.

That’s the conundrum bigs are faced with in today’s league. The officiating isn’t consistent. We saw OKC hack the shyt outta him all series.

And yes, Jokic did have a “funny/bad game”, but like I said to the other cat, that was almost entirely because of his support cast: on the the road, exhausted from playing 14 games in 28 days and injured, and OKC took full advantage of that defending him with 2-3 players (not just Caruso) and sold out on everyone else.

Even Murray didn’t show up, likely because he was still getting over being unwell.

 

[Gil Scott-Heroin]

@seraphx

This picture tells us a 1000 words of what happened in Game 7.

 

[Deafheaven]

All these excuses. Its a game 7. Two heavy weights.

They couldn't string múltiple wins together. shyt falls on your stars. He had 31 turnovers in this series. His free throw shooting was shyt too

Give him flowers but lets not turn a blind eye to his shortcomings.

And thats all it really boils down to. Ive see. Players on this board get toasted for better performances in Ls, yet Joker seemingly is off the hook. Joker is a special player. He got a 3, if he cant get Down low literally just shoot over caruso. Go down swinging. If he is going to foul every time eventually they will have to call something.

But he mentally checked out as early as the second as he let caruso fakkitry get him off his square and it was a wrap. All you saw was his big ass moping and trying to flop till they pulled him.

He is a great player but he gonna get this work hes not absolved from that. Every player would get clowned on here if they put up 9 shots in a g7 and got blown out. Context would take a backseat

 

[DonRe]

And thats all it really boils down to. Ive see. Players on this board get toasted for better performances in Ls, yet Joker seemingly is off the hook. Joker is a special player. He got a 3, if he cant get Down low literally just shoot over caruso. Go down swinging. If he is going to foul every time eventually they will have to call something.

But he mentally checked out as early as the second as he let caruso fakkitry get him off his square and it was a wrap. All you saw was his big ass moping and trying to flop till they pulled him.

He is a great player but he gonna get this work hes not absolved from that. Every player would get clowned on here if they put up 9 shots in a g7 and got blown out. Context would take a backseat

And too add all this injury talk, at this point, is gay. Everyone is hurt. Or is playing through something. No one cares.

And coaching shouldnt matter with Jokers massively high IQ. He can see the sun explode 3 billion years from now.

I think he checked out twice in this series. In that crazy blow out and this game.

 

[Cladyclad]

Lakers gave the blueprint

We lost so Shai could flop

 

[10bandz]

Was always silly, and never made sense. He was being propped up by the national media and certain analytic guys in large part because he’s white and “wholesome” to some

Right smack in the middle of your prime as the best player in the world and going out with a whimper

If people are gonna be saying he’s the greatest offensive peak ever, we gotta start judging him like that

Prime Curry ain’t going down like that in an elimination game

Prime MJ ain’t going down like that in an elimination game

Prime LeBron ain’t going down like that in an elimination game

Kobe would be in that discussion too but he would do chit like not shoot in the 2nd half of game 7 so he can’t be up there

Look at this fakkit. A real fukking loser @Trojan 24 @Torrential @CantStop

 

[Gil Scott-Heroin]

And thats all it really boils down to. Ive see. Players on this board get toasted for better performances in Ls, yet Joker seemingly is off the hook. Joker is a special player. He got a 3, if he cant get Down low literally just shoot over caruso. Go down swinging. If he is going to foul every time eventually they will have to call something.

But he mentally checked out as early as the second as he let caruso fakkitry get him off his square and it was a wrap. All you saw was his big ass moping and trying to flop till they pulled him.

He is a great player but he gonna get this work hes not absolved from that. Every player would get clowned on here if they put up 9 shots in a g7 and got blown out. Context would take a backseat

He got clowned last season in a Game 7 loss when he put up 28 shots and grabbed 20 rebounds.

This board has shytted on him whenever he exits the playoffs, no matter however many shots he takes or stats he has. If it wasn’t about his lack of shooting, it’d be about something else.

That doesn’t mean he should be immune from criticism, but given the circumstances surrounding the squad, he (and the team) performed well above everyone’s expectations.

We all know why this board doesn’t fukk with him, and grades him on a curve. I just wish y’all would be honest about that and then these type of threads can be treated for what they are (memes/trolling) and not actual hoops discussion.

 

[Gil Scott-Heroin]

And too add all this injury talk, at this point, is gay. Everyone is hurt. Or is playing through something. No one cares.

Everyone is not playing through injuries like a Grade 2 hamstring strain or a Grade 2 AC joint injury.

Niggles and natural wear and tear during a season is something completely different.

 

[L&HH]

There was a long stretch in the second where the tallest OKC player couldn’t have been more than 6’6 yet that’s when OKC put the clamps and blew the game game open. Yeah that wasn’t a good look for Jokic.

 

[Gil Scott-Heroin]

Here's Jokic sealing off Caruso inside the paint (notice how Caruso has his arm wrapped around him, which should've been a foul) -

Now look at where Westbrook ends up passing the ball to -

That's what the problem was.

Whenever Jokic had him 1v1, his teammates couldn't even make basic entry passes.

 

[murksiderock]

Context matters....

But its also okay to say someone didn't play a good game....

I think Jokic is the best player in the sport currently, and I think hes the best player of this 2020s era, to this point. So I also agree with judging him accordingly to the standards a greatest player of an era, a greatest player alive, should be held to...

This was not a great series from him...

And it follows up when they were eliminated in Rd2 last year, how meek and passive he looked down the stretch of the last two games of that series. That G6 they lost by 45. They lost last night by 32 and they lost G2 this year by 43. The regularity of 30 and 40 point losses in the same series, isn't a good look...

I think OKC 'may' win it all, but I dont think they are a generational team. It took them 7 to beat a Nuggets team with no depth, top guys playing thru injury, and inconsistencies from every man in the rotation. If they win it'll get framed as a historic run, 68 wins, the MVP + a title, but i saw enough in this series, this team can be had...

They were supposed to mop up this Nuggets team in 5 and the fact Denver pushed it to 7 speaks to the carrying Jokic was doing, because nobody else was a consistent positive. So that's a fair point to make...

But the way he's gone out when eliminated, man. He hasnt looked good the last two years, and unless my memory is bad, I don't remember him looking this poorly in playoff exits before he won his championship...