It's the Friday before Christmas, and that means ... 10 things -- Christmas Day edition! This week, we highlight two-time MVP Nikola Jokic making another MVP case, Jayson Tatum's scary apex rise, and -- holiday surprise! -- the New York Knicks?

1. Nikola Jokic, always finding something new

The Denver Nuggets are No. 1 in the West. Jokic is averaging 24.7 points, 11 rebounds, 9.2 assists (what?), and 1.5 steals. He's shooting 62% overall, and 67.5% on 2s. The Nuggets are obliterating teams when he's on the floor and helpless when he rests. He's No. 1 in almost every advanced statistic. It's too early to suss out the MVP race, but it should go without saying that "I just didn't feel like voting Jokic to the three-peat" is not sufficient support for voting someone else. Start preparing better rationales.

That better rationale might be that someone else on an elite team -- Jayson Tatum, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Joel Embiid, and Kevin Durant being the front-runners among that group right now -- is an amazing two-way player having an amazing season on par with what Jokic is doing. When it's close, the "how much do I trust them in the second round of the playoffs?" test is not totally out of bounds as a tiebreaker -- depending on individual voting preferences -- even though the award is for the regular season.

But Jokic is absolutely this good. All-time-great good. And every season, he arrives with new skills-within-skills that make him even more unguardable.

Denver runs a lot of typical big man sets designed to get Jokic the ball on the move -- usually for quick-hitting post-ups. But Jokic is hunting random cuts all over the floor, and weaseling his way to more easy buckets:

The Jokic-Jamal Murray give-and-go contains infinite possibilities. Jokic is scoring more off cuts this season and hitting more 2s without dribbling, per NBA.com. If the defense swarms on the catch, no one is better making snap reads in traffic.

2. Yes, Brook Lopez is that good on defense

If you want to boil Lopez's improbable late-career Defensive Player of the Year case into one 10-second clip, this would do:

The perfect big-man defender is scheme proof -- capable of playing any style, against any lineup. Lopez is closer to that platonic ideal than his gigantic frame and ground-bound game might indicate, but he would have some issues against lineups featuring five 3-point shooters. (That concern drove skepticism in some corners about whether Rudy Gobert deserved three Defensive Player of the Year awards.)

That big man archetype is really hard to find. Prime Kevin Garnett could do everything in a very different NBA. I'd love to see Hakeem Olajuwon and Bill Russell play now. Draymond Green is the greatest and most well-rounded defender of the 3-point era. Is Evan Mobley next? What about Victor Wembanyama? Jaren Jackson Jr. might snatch Defensive Player of the Year from Lopez, but he still fouls himself out of heavy minutes.

Prime Anthony Davis got close to this infallible big man dream, but he's always injured. Bam Adebayo and Antetokounmpo approximate it. Adebayo can switch and protect the rim, but switching early in possessions often leaves Adebayo away from the basket -- and effectively out of the action -- at go time. (The Heat have realized this; Adebayo is switching on 12 picks per 100 possessions -- down from 17.5 last season, per Second Spectrum.)

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Antetokounmpo appearing everywhere at once allows Lopez to hang in his natural habitat, but that relationship is reciprocal; Antetokounmpo roams because Lopez lords over the paint. Playing more center would expose Antetokounmpo to more physical pounding.

Besides, look at that clip! Lopez chases Stephen Curry above the arc, and spreads those condor arms so Curry can't sneak any pass to Kevon Looney. (Lopez is underrated as a switch defender -- in the right doses.)

One fire extinguished, Lopez retreats. Green rampages into a 2-on-1, facing Lopez as last line of defense. How many times have we seen Green outwit that defender?

Lopez turns predator into prey, playing Green for the pass while standing tall to disrupt Green's layup.

Opponents are shooting 52% at the rim with Lopez nearby, one of the stingiest marks in the league, and they encroach much less often with Lopez in the game. He's averaging his most points and minutes since his final Brooklyn Nets season. Lopez has hit 39.5% from deep and 59% on 2s. He spaces the floor, and his burly box-outs and post-ups define Milwaukee's "pound the stuffing out of you" ethos.

The Bucks are a league-best 22-9. Khris Middleton has missed most of the season. Jrue Holiday missed seven games. Lopez has an All-Star case.

3. Jayson Tatum, expert screener

The Celtics are still in a virtual tie for No. 1 in points per possession despite their prolonged slump -- that's how blazing their first 20 games were. Some worrisome signs have dotted this slump; their turnovers are creeping up, and they aren't generating enough shots at the rim. But they've had some injuries, and reintegrating Robert Williams III -- after playing mostly with five shooters -- was always going to cause hiccups. This team will be fine.

How often Boston uses its two best players -- Tatum and Jaylen Brown -- in creative screening actions on and off the ball has always been Boston's bellwether. The best of those actions pair bigs or point guards (or both!) with Boston's stars -- forcing defenses to either switch into bad size mismatches, or risk tough rotations. Joe Mazzulla, Boston's new coach, has introduced more of this.

Tatum is becoming a cagey screener, varying his movement patterns to catch defenses off-guard:

Tatum sets the second of two picks for Malcolm Brogdon, and lurches toward the foul line. That feint works because Tatum loves setting up shop there when teams switch smaller guys onto him -- as the Los Angeles Lakers do here with Kendrick Nunn. Nunn leaps toward the foul line, but Tatum is gone, having moonwalked to the arc for an open triple.

Boston has also used Tatum more as the back-screener in so-called "Spain" pick-and-rolls:

Normally, Tatum's job there is to slam Al Horford's guy -- Domantas Sabonis -- with a back pick, unlocking an open rim-run for Horford. Tatum sees Sabonis trapping Derrick White, aborts the script, and flares outside. Harrison Barnes sticks to Tatum, freeing Brogdon for an open 3.

Tatum is setting 12.3 on-ball screens per 100 possessions, easily a career high and up from 8.1 last season, per Second Spectrum. He's both setting and cutting around off-ball screens at career-high rates.

Tatum is refining every subsection of his game. His vision, anticipation, and physical talents are rising toward an apex intersection.

4. Well, hello, Quentin Grimes!

The Knicks found themselves almost the instant Tom Thibodeau inserted Grimes into the starting lineup, benched Derrick Rose and Evan Fournier, and slotted Miles McBride into reserve units. Everyone in New York's nine-man rotation is an average defender at worst (at least when dialed in). Immanuel Quickley is thriving as something of a sixth starter. RJ Barrett eats as the lone starter on bench units.

The Knicks' revamped starting five is plus-75 in 255 minutes -- a complete flip-flop after two years of rollicking bench groups carrying punchless starting lineups. Grimes's 3-and-D skill set meshes around three ball-dominant starters in Jalen Brunson, Julius Randle, and Barrett.

Brunson is a stabilizer who fits New York's smash-mouth style. Having a competent point guard allows you to swap out ball handling (i.e. Fournier and Rose) for defense and spot-up shooting.

Grimes has hit 38.6% on 3s, but he's more than a stand-still shooter. He can pump-and-go when defenders run him off the arc, and make the next play. He's cutting and screening away from the ball, relocating for open 3s with defenses in scramble mode -- injecting some needed unpredictability into New York's thudding offense:

Grimes is as advertised on defense. In the past week alone, New York has used him on Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, and Tyrese Haliburton. The Knicks are not afraid to switch him onto bigger players. (Randle seems to enjoy switching lately.)

Grimes is smart and stout, with impeccable balance.

He diagnoses that set early. Grimes trails Haliburton around one screen, and then flies out to Buddy Hield on an impromptu switch -- staying down and attached on multiple fakes before inhaling Hield's triple. (The Knicks on offense use Grimes as the back-screener -- Hield's role -- in this same action.)

Time will tell whether New York's (divided) brain trust was right to hold off on trading Grimes (and everything else) for Donovan Mitchell. I understood it at the time; New York did not have a ready-made contender around Mitchell as the Cleveland Cavaliers did. The Knicks' path after a theoretical Mitchell trade was murky.

Their path to real contention now is murky. They remain a middle-of-the-road team. They'll need a tentpole star, either via free agency or trade. Extending Quickley and Obi Toppin could shut off their future cap space.

But keep this up, and that's two solid seasons in three years. Small victories lead to bigger ones.

5. The zig-zaggy creativity of Jalen Brunson

Brunson is averaging 21 points and 6 dimes on solid shooting -- living up to his new contract. Few ball handlers combine Brunson's fire-hydrant physicality with so much creativity. He has a deep bag of moves and fakes, and he strings them together in sequences -- sometimes very long ones -- that make sense to only him.

Like, what even is this:

That is 11 seconds of continuous, circular dribbling that somehow leads to a wide-open 3. Brunson stabs at defenders, fades back, hits them with hesitations and half-spins (he might be the reigning king of the Smitty fake spin) until something opens. Brunson is not super quick, but he's really hard to grasp.

Look at him zig-zag through a zone defense!

Brunson might start possessions with an improvised guard-guard screen aimed at drawing a smaller defender he can overpower. The Knicks have scored 1.17 points per possession out of Brunson isolations -- 14th among 103 ball handlers who have run at least 50 such plays, per Second Spectrum. Brunson going one-on-one more means Randle is doing it less -- and as a result, with greater efficiency.

Brunson can screen for Randle and Barrett in inverted pick-and-rolls too. Switch, and the Knicks choose between mismatches. Help and recover, and someone pops open. New York has scored an astounding 1.33 points per possession trips featuring a Brunson ball screen -- sixth among 249 players who have set at least 50, per Second Spectrum.

New York's offense isn't pretty. It's still a blunt force weapon. But Brunson gives the Knicks more ways to aim that force in more directions. It's brutality with variety, and it's working.

6. Christian Wood's defensive geometry

The only bright side of Maxi Kleber's injury -- and the Dallas Mavericks exiling JaVale McGee to the deep bench -- is that Dallas almost has to see if lineups with Wood as the only big man sink or swim. Jason Kidd has been reluctant to lean too far in that direction, likely pessimistic those groups can survive on defense.

Wood has never nailed down a defensive position. At power forward, he's not quite attentive or fast enough to chase stretchy shooters and execute help rotations. He's not a reliable rim-protector at center, and can't seem to master the angles and timing of drop-back schemes. Wood is too high, too flat, too open toward the sideline, too late getting back to his man. Either a driving lane or a pocket pass is open.

He sometimes does his work late -- waiting too long to rotate, or yielding too much space to shooters on switches.

But when focused, Wood can be a decent defender. He has looked good in switching schemes; he has nimble feet.

He's a fantastic offensive player, especially as a stretch center. The Mavs with Doncic on the floor and Wood as the lone big have outscored opponents by 3.4 points per 100 possessions -- and done so as you'd expect: great offense, slightly below-average (but workable) defense.

That's not a bad formula. It can make Doncic's life easier. There is no point trading a first-round pick for Wood if you're not going to give these groups some leeway.

But it's on Wood to gain Kidd's trust on defense. Wood is on an expiring deal, eligible for an extension. He hasn't gotten one. Could he be a sneaky trade candidate? Dallas might feel more pressure to make a short-term upgrade than they had expected to before the season.

7. Finish it, Steven Adams!

I love Steven Adams. You love Steven Adams. Everyone loves Steven Adams. He's delightful. He does his job. He's probably the best offensive rebounder in the league, on pace for one of the highest single-season offensive rebounding rates in history. His screens hurt. He breaks up scuffles in hilarious big-boy fashion. He's indestructible. People run into him, get hurt, and smile.

He's a good passer with little interest in scoring. Teammates love that kind of player. He springs Desmond Bane on handoffs and backdoor cuts. Those two have rare, precious chemistry. When the Grizzlies were searching against the Golden State Warriors in the postseason with Ja Morant injured, they went back to Adams -- after benching him -- and rediscovered their bully-ball identity.

But sometimes points are there for the taking at the rim, and Adams has to take more of them:

That would be a tricky finish around Yuta Watanabe, but Adams is 6-11 with a cinder-block body that repels everything it touches. Power through and score.

One possible reason for Adams' hesitancy: His finishing has dropped off. Adams is shooting 60% at the basket for the second straight season -- toward the bottom among bigs. Adams sometimes volleyballs his own misses, and comes up empty after two or three tips.

None of this really changes that Adams is a good player and A-plus teammate. But when the margins get smaller, you need every tool to be sharp.

8. Free Zeke!

I ... like Zeke Nnaji? I don't understand why he so rarely plays? He's inexperienced and might be a tweener (between power forward and center), but he always seems to be doing something helpful:

That is tidy work from a big. Being alone on the weak side of a Doncic pick-and-roll is an NBA torture chamber. You have to help inside and scamper back to your guy without yielding an open triple or teetering so much that the Dorian Finney-Smiths of the world blow by you. Nnaji's balance is really good.

He then switches onto Doncic, and contests Doncic's triple without fouling (according to the referees, who can't call it every time Doncic falls).

Nnaji is 3-of-14 on 3s this season, but he's 64-of-153 -- 42% -- for his career. He can shoot. Rebounding and fouling have been weak spots, but there's something here. (For what it's worth, advanced stats do not like Nnaji's defense.)

The Nuggets are plus-218 with Jokic on the floor. They are minus-174 with Jokic resting. That doesn't even seem possible. That is almost "should we take shot clock violations and set our defense?" bad.

Trying Nnaji as backup center in place of DeAndre Jordan is literally the least risky attempt at a fix (other than having both Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. on the floor.) Nnaji can work as a rim-runner in that role. He and Jordan can play together against opponents with size. (Nnaji can play alongside Jokic too, and even in ultra-big lineups featuring both Jokic and Aaron Gordon.)

Nnaji finally got another chance Tuesday against the Memphis Grizzlies, and was steady in 11 minutes backing up Jokic. More, please!

9. De'Anthony Melton, connector

In trading Danny Green and a first-round pick for Melton, the Sixers knew they were getting an ace defender with a reliable 3-point shot and some off-the-bounce chops -- a chaos engine who would nudge them into transition and fortify perhaps the league's weakest rebounding team.

They've gotten all that, plus more connective tissue in the half court than they might have anticipated. Melton has been a nasty screener for both James Harden and Embiid; he's already blown past his previous single-season high in on-ball picks, per Second Spectrum.

Melton gets into Embiid's man -- JaMychal Green -- shoves him toward the paint, and forces the Warriors into a painful temporary switch: Ty Jerome onto (gulp) Embiid. As Jerome and Green figure out how to escape this crisis, Embiid slings the ball to Melton in open space. This is where guard screeners really sing. This is playmaking position, and Melton has plenty of playmaking experience.

Embiid cuts, and Melton finds him on a give-and-go. Philly has scored 1.20 points whenever a Melton ball screen leads directly to a shot -- 17th among 244 players who have set at least 50 such picks, per Second Spectrum.

Melton enters to Embiid, and slices to the rim the moment his guy leaves to double Embiid. That's the easy part. That inside-out dish to Harden is next level -- the ability to catch, map the floor, spin, and kick it. (Harden recognizing that it's legal to take catch-and-shoot 3s is healthy.)

This is how the Miami Heat used P.J. Tucker last season. Tucker has supplied defense and second-chance points for the Sixers, but has otherwise been a statue in the corners. I wonder if Philly at full health might explore the Tyrese Maxey/Melton/Harden/Tobias Harris/Embiid lineup -- the starters with Melton in Tucker's place. They sacrifice size and defense, but gain real juice. Harris could defend power forwards -- more natural for him than defending wings -- full time. That group has played only four possessions together, per Cleaning The Glass.

When they need more defense, they could bust out the Tucker/Melton/Embiid trio -- with two of Harden, Harris, and Maxey. The Sixers will need all these groups (and others featuring Shake Milton, Georges Niang, their backup centers, maybe Matisse Thybulle in some matchups) to challenge Milwaukee and Boston, but they have the upside for it.

10. The best postgame victory in the NBA

Almost every team has a victory celebration song. The Lakers use Randy Newman's "I Love L.A." The LA Clippers go with "California Love" by Tupac and Dr. Dre. The contrast is perfect: classic sheen for the Lakers, 1990s rap for the team that fashions itself cooler and brasher.

But the league's best victory song is Philadelphia's disco-infused 1970s classic "Here Come the Sixers," and it's not close. The beat is catchy, and the tone is so cheerful. It doesn't matter that the lyrics are child-like. (As Scott Cacciola outlined in the New York Times, "Sesame Street" helped inspire the song.) I mean, the chorus is "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Sixers! 10, 9, 8, 76ers!"

It's the perfect blend of funky and cheesy. You revel in the kitsch and not so secretly like the song on its merits. The first 20 seconds are all instrumental, and the Sixers play that opening over live action if the game is decided. It's a fun buildup, starting the party and priming fans to sing the opening lyrics. It is an audio version of Red Auerbach's cigar, and if the Sixers ever change it, we riot.

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2023-05-15 07:30:24