Former Iowa Hawkeye Luka Garza made an interesting prediction ahead of game one of the NBA Finals. In an interview with sports betting network VSin, Garza laid out the game plan on how to possibly contain the two-time MVP Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets.
“You live with him getting 50 and maybe 5 assists versus 30, 17, and 17,” explained Garza in the interview.
The idea has been thrown out a lot after the Heat’s success in game two where they leveled up the series. Nikola Jokic is going to feast, he’s simply too good to hope to completely eliminate him. Your hope is to contain the scoring outburst to just him, single-covering the big man while trying to stop the shooters around them.
“We’re going to let you get 50 points but we don’t want you to get 15 assists,” Garza said.
"You live with him getting 50 and maybe 5 assists versus 30, 17, and 17…"
Prior to Gm 1 of the #NBAFinals … Luka Garza @LukaG_55 said on @VSiNLive he would expect the Heat to single cover Jokic a bunch
Game 1: 27 pts 14 asts = Denver W
Game 2: 41 pts 5 asts = Miami W pic.twitter.com/FRlR0lWrKh— Tim Murray (@1TimMurray) June 6, 2023
With how great of a facilitator Nikola Jokic is, especially with how the offensive system is designed to flow through him, going all out to stop Jokic can really hurt you. He will find players open. As Garza suggested, just letting Bam Adebayo do his best to try and limit Jokic on offense, while eliminating the shooters around him, seems to be the best way to go.
You could see this in action already this series. In the first game, Jokic was an expert facilitator, his 14 assists combined with 27 points led to a comfortable 104-93 Nuggets win. Then, most recently in game three, Jokic filled up every part of the stat sheet, scoring 32 points, grabbing 21 rebounds and dishing out 10 assists. It didn’t hurt that Jamal Murray had a triple-double as well, but you get the point in Denver’s 109-94 game three victory.
While Jokic went on a scoring tear in game two with 41 points, the assists numbers were down to just four. Of course, it’s not just that cut and dry. The Denver players weren’t hitting their shots from deep, but that all really played into what the Heat were trying to do defensively. Just as Luka Garza said.
It makes you wonder, when Luka Garza’s playing career is over, can he have an even bigger star as a basketball analyst?
The NBA Finals resume tonight from Miami’s Kaseya Center at 7:30 p.m. CT on ABC with Denver currently owning a 2-1 series lead.
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