Reining in the reigning MVP
Versatile Jokic still tough to contain when facing Nuggets
As much as the NBA’s MVP debate includes a number of intriguing possibilities — Jayson Tatum’s stock has certainly risen since the start of the year — few can dispute that the reigning award winner is on track to repeat.
CELTICS NOTEBOOK
The Celtics went up against Nikola Jokic for the second time this season on Sunday night in Denver, once again without his valuable wing Jamal Murray available. Though Murray is playing in G-League games, coach Mike Malone said the shooter is still not ready to rejoin the parent team.
But for now the challenge posed by the Nuggets continues to be their uncommonly skilled center.
“Yeah, they’ve been still in the mix and Jokic is playing at an MVP level, and that’s a big reason why they are where they are still minus two starters,” said Ime Udoka. “And so Malone has done a great job whenever he’s kind of put in those spots, but Jokic has carried the load and, like I said, I think his numbers are as good or better than last year when he did win the MVP. So it’s not hard to see why they’re still in contention.
“He’s a true big who can do it all; inside, outside, passing, scoring, especially his lack of verticality at times, the way he gets rebounds and scores in the post,” said the Celtics coach. “It’s obviously a tough cover in there but he also can shoot the ball and he plays on the perimeter a ton. So, They move around quite a bit, they do a lot of good things with him, and it’s a tough guard because that’s not a traditional post that’s just inside and you can take him away from there. If you try to do that he’s such a great passer where he gets everybody else involved.”
Nesmith still on mend
Though Aaron Nesmith has been with the team throughout this trip, his recovery from a right ankle sprain continues to be slow and painstaking. Nesmith missed his eighth straight game against the Nuggets.
“Tested it recently and didn’t feel great, but he’s getting close,” said Udoka.
The Jokic reader
Marcus Smart had great success the last time reading Jokic, and even calling out the Nuggets’ plans to the defense.
“Defensive-minded guy, so he does his homework on play calls,” said Udoka. “He can kind of read the sets they’re gonna run, but he’s a very timely double teamer. We don’t go every time if we have an edge in the post defensively — we like our bigs to guard. But he seems to read it at times and turns his back and makes plays. With all the switching we do, that’s one of the benefits of Marcus and our big wings. He guards some of these guys inside. As big as Jokic is, he makes it tough to catch, and when he’s there he has the strength to kind of get under them and hold them up until help arrives or he takes a poor shot. So very beneficial as far as what we do defensively. He does his homework and calls out sets and makes sure everyone is in their places.”
Pop the all-time winner
Now that Udoka’s mentor, Gregg Popovich, is the winningest coach in NBA history, Udoka was recently asked to explain what got the Spurs legend there.
“Longevity is the thing that stands out to me,” he said. “His passion and longevity to do it for that long at a high level is very impressive. He went through a lot of different rosters and situations and always figured them out. Now he ‘s with a team that’s younger and he’s doing more teaching – the fact that he has the juice to do it after all these years is impressive. Longevity is the thing that stands out after a certain amount of time. A lot of guys burn out when they’re with one franchise. But being around him all those years and this summer with the Olympics, you see the passion is still there and the teaching is still there. Not surprised at what he’s done.”