Can you read the game like Nikola Jokic?
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- čas přidán 20. 02. 2024
- Can you guess what the best basketball passer in the world will do? This detailed film breakdown and analysis is an interactive quiz, where you can play along to predict what decisions two-time MVP Nikola Jokic will make in a game. Why does react in certain ways? How does he manipulate defenses to create passing windows? The maximum number of points is unofficially 19, so see keep track to see how well you do! Bonus point for avoiding the turnover trap!
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Music by csus (instrumental)
#ThinkingBasketball - Sport
you can get probably half the questions correct by assuming he'll dump it off to aaron no matter the coverage, those two have some of the most absurd chemistry in the league
Spoilers! (This was my wife's strategy)
Cs get degrees! lol
AG is the perfect third man. Murray and Joker can do so much off the threat of an AG oop, or an MPJ spot up three.
nah, he has a two man game with Jamal , and Mpj will shoot it once he gets his hands on the ball.😂😂
This was also my strategy. "Probably going to pass to Gordon." The dude is basically a wide receiver.
Excelent job from AG too, always being ready for the pass and being patient, and then just going for the simple layup/dunk.
That’s the team’s culture and chemistry. I recommend watching the team USA hockey movie miracle. It shows how raw talent is nothing compared to team chemistry and sacrifice.
I remember when they traded for Gordon: his athleticism and teamwork made him a deadly running mate, and I thought "oh shit here we go." And then Murray went down with that ACL and we had to wait a long time to see it come to fruition. Deadly hoops machine they had last year. I wonder if their supporting cast is quite as strong.
AG is amazing. He is ready at every moment to have the ball delivered to him. He’s amazing
@@mrsankow Great attitude as well, right?
For real, 90% of jokic passes wouldn’t even be possible without Gordon’s near perfect positioning all the time and godly timed cuts. I didn’t really notice how good he was at that until this video. He’s either open everytime or drawing another defender off a perimeter shooter
Nothing will ever top the "top 10 Jokic passes" video, where you reveal midway thru that all of the passes are from the same freakin' game, lol. This was fun though, I love that you keep finding new and different ways to bring highlights to the masses. Even now, when Joker is almost universally recognized as the best player in the game I still think he's actually under-rated, he has rolled off a half dozen historic seasons in a row.
@@dragicaandrejevic2060 Stop spewing false narratives. You can literally search the press conference where he says he'd like to be an all star, but he cares more about the playoffs as he showed in their championship run. He doesn't want it "badly" as you say.
Crazy story-I only watched 3 regular season games last season (was able to catch almost every post season game though).
That game you’re referring to was 1 of those 3 that I watched. I remember sitting there being mindblown at how Jokic was playing and how casually it was all unfolding. I remember thinking “…is this really as normal as everyone is acting like it is? Because if so, Jokic damn well might be the best player I’ve ever fucking seen.”
And then to see Thinking Basketball make a Jokic video about that game specifically was so awesome 😂 there were some assists in that video that on 2nd look, were insane that I didn’t even realize/remember initially bc of how easy he made it look live.
Anyways, after watching the playoffs, I indeed now believe, as someone who’s played basketball all his life and been a diehard fan since 2009, that Jokic is 1 of the top 2 players I’ve EVER seen alongside LeBron. He’s unbelievable.
spot on!
I scored 10/15 as a Denver fan. They can hire me as a backup Jokic. I'm 5-9.
11/15, 5-10 and European. Going for greatness 😂
I missed three of them, either because I'm Serbian or because I probably watched all these games... Truth of the matter is nobody can read this from his from his POV on the floor, and with full game speed lol dude's just a once in a lifetime engine
I got 12/15 so I think I am a more qualified backup. I'm 5' 7" LOL
@@vukaleksic3550 I really hope to see games where we can watch the game from a player’s view. Then we can really assess if we can replace Jokic or not.
@@ryandavid1235 congrats man you have a good chance. Even Jokic might not score 15/15. It’s too hard.
Jokic post up shot is the most efficient shot of the past decade. And still he understands in split second that Gordon dunk and MPJ open three are more efficient and he makes those reads each time. Amazing
So true! Insane vision/awareness. Cause & effect should be taken into account here too - maybe the reason he has the best post game is because of his godly awareness of always making the most efficient play
Who was that idiot of an analyst who said Jokic wasn't dominant? Lol
I like you're thinking but i think even if he was a mediocre passer, his post moves mixed with soft touch and dexterity would still make him an amazing scorer regardless. It would actually be fun to see what he could score if he had a score first mentality. My gutt says he's putting up even more than Embiid's 35 a game. In my opinion he's the greatest offensive player of all time and I actually don't think it's as close as people want to believe because we worship LeBron and MJ but I just don't think he either them have anywhere near the talent all around offensively that he has. MJ lacks the passing and LeBron the scoring skill and dominance. Not to mention he's a far better shooter than both of them.@@ultrascissor
Facts his iq is off the charts
@@michaelturley8222one of the wildest, biggest dick riding comments I've ever seen.
Lebron doesnt have the scoring when he averages more points than jokic? MJ doesnt have the shooting when hes the best midrange shooter ever and shot better from the line than jokic. He also mightve been a better 3pt shooter if players cared back then. Average more than embiid when he literally averaging 9 less points on the same efficiency?
Cmon now his passing completely changes and opens up his scoring. If he was an average or bad passer than his offensive game and scoring would completely drop off. Just watch one game of embiid and one game of jokic and you can see how embiid gets doubled, tripled and quadruple teamed every single possession wheras jokic, despite being so insanely efficient 1 on 1, is still allowed to operate without seeing nearly as much help because his passing is so deadly.
Can't imagine why anyone would hate this beautiful way of playing the game.
More entertaining than Curry throwing brick three's all game long.
Jokic over Curry any day 😂
This really shows how essential Gordon is. On almost every play he's cutting towards the basket and giving Jokic a backdoor option, which he frequently takes.
When Denver picked up Gordon, I thought, "He's exactly what they need!" And the fit was even better than I thought, because Gordon moving off the ball was much better than he ever showed in Orlando where he was the main scorer.
Gordon was such a smart addition, perfect complement to Jokic
What is impressive is he was like that from the day he arrived. Those 12 first games before Murray hurt his knee were mindblowing because you'd figure there'd be some adjustment from a guy who had a different role in Orlando. He totally left his ego at the door and did all the little things that the team needed. Even in the Murray-MPJless season where he went from 4th option to 2nd, he adjusted to new demands on him. Then last year with everyone back he settled into the role he had in his 12 first games.
He was the sort of player we hoped for but never could I have thought that the latest Mr Nuggets would be such a fit on and off court.
He's not just the best passing big of all time, he's one of the best passers ever in any position, at least top 3 .
Agreed
So true. He is definitely the best passing center for sure. You can’t top that. But among all players, top 3 feels fair.
It's really just he and Magic in contention for greatest passer ever. Nash a distant speck in the rearview mirror.
@@brienhays5508 *John Stockton enter the tchat*
@@brienhays5508 JKidd was clean with his passes too. Didnt have much else tho. Pretty high IQ player nonetheless
Great day when Thinking Basketball drops Nikola Jokic content
I love how the opponent’s team always look confused after jokic passed/shoot the ball 😂
Short answer? No
Long answer? Absolutely not
My favorite part of this exercise is that we're slowing it down and pausing from a bird's eye view, but he's out there on the ground doing it in real time.
So why does Sabonis has the same assists avarage? Why a guy who plays nine years in the same team can' t have atleast two more assists per game than a guy who plays 2 years in a Kings?
@@toddmobby1595 Denver struggles with shooting this season. Bench is horrible apart from PWat, Murray and MPJ couldn't buy a bucket in the past few games they played and on top of that Mal and KCP are injured. If Jokic's team made shots he'd average 30 assist per game given how many open looks he creates with almost every single possession.
Unfortunately we rely on the lights being bright enough for Mal to wake up and feng shui to align for MPJ. That's when you see Jokic attack the rim more and those games are always ugly and usually end in a loss.
@@toddmobby1595 per 100 possessions: Jokic 12.9 Sabonis 11.1
@@toddmobby1595 a lot of Sabonis assists are dribble handoffs into pull up jumpers. Not really "passes". Jokic gets quite a few of those as well but not as many. Sabonis is a very good passer too but not at Jokic level. Also teams have been a lot more cautious with helping/doubling Jokic to not get beat by his passing, so he's shooting a lot more this season
Denver is one of the few teams in the NBA where when the best player has the ball, the other 4 players on the court are looking to score! Like what? They arent to only ones like this with Sengun, Sabonis and Haliburton all similarly looking to pass first but they are clearly the best at it. All 4 of the other players on the floor are always in the correct position and ready to cut at any moment because they know Joker will always make the correct read. Insane trust in one mans ability and understanding of the game!
its so boring to see the sins were only kd and booker score in isos when jokic has the ball it becomes entertaining😊
So many of the dumpoffs to AG are about recognizing who is being tasked as the rim protector in real time. If AG has a smaller wing rotating onto him, that dumpoff is an automatic bucket
Exactly. Most people -- and NBA hall of famers -- don't see this as an opening. Joker does.
I love these detailed looks at someone's bball IQ, seeing the small shifts, nods, looks, fades and whatnot that go beyond a simple no-look pass. So few pick up on that stuff.
Would love to see similar with defensive players like Gobert, Draymond, and others that use positioning, anticipation, even jukes and jabs from the defensive side of things to make offensive players make mistakes, all while frequently having a map of passing lanes in their head of cutters and at the very first inclination a pass is coming, before the direction of the pass is even hinted at, they're throwing their hand in a passing lane they can only guess is there because they know they just saw a cutter run behind them, and get fingertips on the ball.
Love what you guys do.
This would be a great vid
He has a good video on jarred Vanderbilt
Reason why I'm fascinated with Joker is because he's the only player I've ever watched that is truly unpredictable with his passes.
If you watch dallas you can see very similar with lukas passes
@@captainuki I freakin love Luka and i've been watching him since his early days in Europe and also internationally.
Great passer, likely next in line alongside Trae but no, Joker remains the only Enigma for me.
@@markost.8944i dont think you watching enough luka then. Jokic never misses a pass unlike luka but luka will still drop absolute gems that you wouldve never predicted in a million years.
@@jojoprocess2820 Brother i literally watch them their entire careers since they were still in Europe. Love em both but for different reasons. For this one i stand behind what I've said.
I feel like you can see "most" of Jokic's decision making by looking at eye lines of the defenders as their focus shifts around, it also looks a lot more like that dictates their movement which then influences Jokic's end decision, with then some careful and amazing timing on moving himself/the ball. But doing this real time, nah that's just incredible.
So spot on
Yeah, we can guess most passes here after they get highlighted to us while frozen in time with a bird's eye view. Jokic is making the most optimal choice from the ground with bodies obstructing the view and even hand checking him
I know this video is about Jokic but i'm so happy for AG that he found a home in Denver. As a Magic fan it has been hard to watch promising players leave Orlando and succeed elsewhere, but in AG's case i'm rooting for him. He and Jokic have great chemistry and i love seeing it. Also after both bs dunk contests seeing him now as an NBA Champion fills me with joy and i hope he gets another ring this season. Lavine and Jones Jr may have won those battles, AG's winning the war.
He is our beloved Mr Nuggets now but it's cool that Orlando fans still hold a place in their heart for AG.
Same here man, I’m a die hard Magic fan and it was awesome to see AG get a title last year
We love him here in Denver. Clearly for most of us Jokic is our favorite player but Gordon holds a very special place in our hearts.
I remember going into the finals once Miami finally won looking at the Heat and going "who the hell is going to guard Gordon? Only guy big enough is Bam but he needs to guard Jokic."
The thing about Jokic is everybody plays their best career basketball with him: AG, KCP, Bruce Brown. Bruce Brown signed a big contract after playing in Denver and before that year in Denver nobody wanted him. If NBA players weren't idiots they would fight for the opportunity to play in Denver as free agents. Besides opportunity to play with the greatest player ever and win championships they can re-launch their career, elevate it to next level and sign a big contract afterwards. But instead of this NBA players prefer to go where night life is brighter, sluts are more abundant and there is more celebrities.
I think KCP will leave Denver after this season and sign a big contract somewhere. Everybody wants players with championship mentality and championship experience and his level of professionalism.
I got about half, but a couple were guesses rather than reads. And I had the benefit of you slowing, stopping, and replaying the action. The fact that someone can make these kind of amazing plays in the moment with a split second for decision is absolutely mind blowing to me.
0:04 I watched this live, and this sequence is CRAZY AF!!
It is a NO-NO to turn your back on that part of the court as there will be a huge blind spot.
Not only that, he dipped the ball low, as if inviting someone from the back for an EASY SWIPE!
Perfect timing for the evasion of the steal as if he has "Eyes on the back of his head"
Please, please, PLEASE make a series of these videos! That’s just an unbelievable way to exercise our understanding of the game
100 agree. CZcams is not always the most interactive space, yet here we are comparing scores. It's cool!
i cant get enough of this nikola jokic videos man.. he has that goat potential FIGHT ME
the angle is easy to see from broadcast view, but making these in live action is wild. also i wouldn't get discouraged if you picked the option he didnt go with, because a lot of his greatness comes from the ability to make 3-4 different reads on any given situation. Great video mate
This video really made me appreciate Aaron Gordon even more. Seeing how some of jokers other teammates are gen weren’t ready for some of his passes and fumble the reception or the layup really makes you realize how in sync AG and joker are and how skilled AG has to be to keep up.
This might be my favourite video on the channel. Please do more like this! The more specific the decision, the better. I'd love to see a case-to-case decision making video for different ball gathers/footwork when attacking the basket, based on help defence/primary defender positioning. If you want to pick a single player for this, maybe Dwayne Wade? SGA? Giannis? Great video as always!
Absolutely fun and engaging video. I second Tom 's suggestion
I got the first one right and thought "hey I know ball!". Then I never got a single one right afterwards. Honestly, the video was way more entertaining because of all the misreads. Great stuff.
Jokic is so aware of the defenders’ eyes. One really subtle instance in a recent game was when he was top-of-the-key and received a lob pass over his defenders head and saw that his defender was looking only at him and he held his arms down as if the ball was not approaching and caught it last second. Didn’t lead to anything, but I noticed 😊. It’s more usual to do the opposite, raise your hands and eyes as if to pretend the ball is approaching (when your defender is looking only at you) even though it’s not.
In addition to his playmaking ability, Jokić is also a versatile scorer, capable of effectively finishing in the paint as well as hitting jump shots from midrange and the three-point arc.
Citing his game IQ and offensive creativity, many commentators have described Jokić as a "basketball genius."
ok but that was really fun. I need more Jokic quizzes
I watched this whole video with a huge grin. Thank you so much
Watching Jokić play results in just laughing out loud in amazement a few times a game. It's a very joyous experience.
Thank you for showing a glimpse of Jokic's beautiful game. I hope this will raise awareness with the wider audience of how unique he is.
i dont think so...people are so blinded by things like ppg, its crazy.
@@leonardoyi3183which is crazy because when willing, he’s a top 5 (at worst) scorer in the league. His scoring and fg percentages in the playoffs balloon so much and so often that I genuinely think his “true” form is a center that shoots 40% from 3 while also dominating the paint and midrange. While being one of the best rebounders. While also being an all time passer. It’s nuts
@@desipardo1646what i mean is that people always overvalue those numbers. Like luka doncic 34 ppg this season. Looks great until you see his poor impact on plus minus, this season as always. Russell westbrook triple double season with washington. It was trash in terms of impact, he couldn't even get top 8 place in his conference. Impact was poor. Now, you see a player like alex caruso, his numbers doesnt seem impressive, but his impact is sky high...Jokic has impressive overall numbers. He doesn't even need to score to have an elite impact on the game, and his impact on the game, overall, is probably all time impressive.
My favorite CZcams channel featuring my favorite basketball player!!!
This video is a great example of why you should ALWAYS keep your head up
My favorite player and my favorite basketball channel !
Facts
for some of us ;)@@Realm35
Love the creativity with the video idea about the creativity of the mvp 👏😂
One of the best "play along" youtube videos I've ever watched.
And I have to give it up to Jokic. I only got 3 right, and 2 of those were the ones Jokic read wrong.
When I first read the name of the channel “Thinking Basketball” and subscribed, this type of video is what I was looking for. Thanks for giving me this. Great content. I love this channel.
great video! The ending (Joker flexing, comically) is chef's kiss...
Yes!!!!!! More Jokic's videos!!!!!!!!!
This is awesome. I got the first one right only because of the second look and noticing that MPJ's defender was covering that cut, and then by the second clip I was LOST in who was going to get the ball. The man's an absolute wizard with the basketball.
This feels like the Thinking Basketball Final Exam and the videos have prepared me for it
Yes. The game is the game. My father always told me that when you know the game, it slows down.
This just goes to show how assists to layups are hella valuable. Most of these I only got correct because that's the first thing I looked for and I only had time to do so because these clips are slowed
Crazy how much processing speed this man has
That ending clip of Joker is gold 🤌🏼
3:00 Also note the the spin move toward the paint to keep AD closer to the basket before whipping it to the corner. If he just passed it to Porter as he gets to the corner then AD will contest, but forcing AD to commit to the paint then passing to the corner gets the open shot. (AD still almost contested, but MPJ is 6'10")
Some of these plays you could honestly pick anyone of the options
when we can pause the video and think about it, he does this right at that intense moment!
He has every pass in the books every clip is a gamble itself😂😂
When the play is stopped you can see how much space he creates. Those dump offs to Gordon are incredible. It looks like there is no space for Gordon to run but Jokic creates a gap with huge paint gravity.
Bro Nikola growing, you growing and we are growing with you, i remember some videos like 5-6 years ago ... We was confident to say he is one of best offensive player in history but i think we can cut off that "offensive" he isn't elite rim protector, but he is good defender in all other aspects of defense like positioning, deflections, steals and D rebounding, specially rebounding combinate with passing skills make him very effective all-around player...
I can say I felt like most of them was gonna be inside pockets.
The dude just seems to understand angles and when players are just slightly out of position and also seems like he stops time hanging the ball in the air that high which leads to more inside cuts. The dude just controls the game like no other And it's effortless
I love this type of film review. I saw something similar with Luka recently and his passing and how he manipulates defenders to move away from his intended pass target is really something amazing!
I'm a Nuggets fan so I had massive advantage for me since I watched 95% of these live, and I did. But, admittedly, I got a few wrong because they looked exactly like other possessions where a different outcome happened. One of Jokic's best abilities as a passer is being able to make a pass look exactly like a different pass he made earlier in the same game, while having a different outcome
great video! please do more of these, these kind of videos helps people who tries to understand the game more.
the tricky thing when you pause is that you must understand where the inertia is taking each players. Going back and rewatch you may understand why he made those reads, what he's paying attenrion to, but processing all that during a game is insane
Another great video Ben! Thanks for the amazing content and podcast!
Great video, more of these!
Yea we need more of these typa vids 🔥
This quiz was too easy for me, Ive seen almost every minute Jokic has played this year 🤣
I've been waiting for this!
10/15,great video love these
please make more interactive videos like this! great work as always
so thankful to be a nuggets fan. Nikola is sublime.
PLEASEEEEEE MORE OF THESEEEE
What a brilliant concept. Great vid.
This is awesome! Great idea for a video
This is a great concept.
Great video! Love the format, love the player.
Jokic so good that most of my answers weren't even on the choices.
Next time we'll have to get rid of multiple choice. :)
Damn you guys need to put one of these out every week! Absolutely love this.
This vid are awesome. Great Job Thinking Basketball team.
Add he makes those reads in real time lol
His connection with AG is always fun to witness
A delicacy of a video. Thank you as always, and regards from Ireland 🏀
I just love to see how much you appreciate him
Dude I love your content. ❤
Great video. Thanks. The video with your top passes in one game was great. Actually your Jokic videos were great.
What an OUTSTANDING and FUN-TO-WATCH video. Thanks, "Thinking Basketball." Great stuff!
Hope to see more of these quiz type videos in the future.
This is awesome. Would love to see something similar with other great passers in NBA History like Magic & Bird. Also would be cool for defensive reads with Draymond
The Quiz Idea is great, very entertaining!
I would watch one of these quizzes every day. Exceptional.
This was very engaging, and I would really like to see more videos like this
This is a super cool and fun vid. Please make more interactive videos like this one!!
a very good exercise, but it would be better (and even crazier) to do this from his pov, not from some overhead camera. absolute beast
I think it's so cool to see right now big men who are great passers like Jokic, Giannis, and Sabonis and I would be very interested to see a breakdown of how each of them runs the offenses. Either way, great channel and I look forward to seeing more videos.
Gotta love what they did to his teammates. Back when i was playih highschool ball, once my teammate cuts and didn't receive the ball, they will then act like headless chickens not knowing what to do. However in these clips, a bunch of his teammates are cutting and even though it looks like they won't get the pass, they would just continue cutting no matter what. I mean, look at AG. He keeps running even though jokic looks like he'll shoot or pass to a shooter. Which gets the opp confused but because AG kept running, he is NOW the open man.
Such a great idea for a video!
JJ gave you a shoutout on his Pod. You’re doing things right and it’s appreciated. Wish you nothing but happiness, great health and success in your immediate future.
great video. I wish we got to practice complex passes like this in class. Obviously not to this level, but something more interesting than the basics. I'd love if you did videos on the WNBA, their style built around fundamentals seems like a lot of fun to analyze like this.
Amazing concept
this video just made me appreciate the nuggets and jokic so much more
What a great concept for analysis! Love the extra work here in production and a neat treat to watch this expertise play out.
love these
Thanks for this video- it was a lot of fun! Jok is something else... and I got the first one right, but only because I know Jok/Gordon, not because I'm great at reading plays. Learning though- and videos like yours help a lot!
Dude... I was doing so good until he started with all that Gordon dump off poetry at about 4:02 😮
The wilder part is the LeBron play tricked me just like it did Jokic. I just KNEW Bron was gonna play the wing 🤯
I also lost count but i think i got more right than wrong stol
AG and Joker 2 man game is so fun to watch slowed down, really a perfect pair for each other.
Got one right only. This is a great video. Please keep' em coming. Thank you.
This is fun and awesome :) I scored about 10 and it was fun to guess Jokic's moves. Great video as always. :).
Jokic's got a great connection with Gordon. And Gordon is great at catching and dunking quickly in the small window Jokic gets him an easy bucket.
This type of video is super fun!
I got 14/15, about 60/40 with reads and guesses. I love watching Basketball for the moments similar to what you showed in the video so this was very fun for me. Definitely gained a new Subscriber