{"id":1866702,"date":"2026-04-05T10:00:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T07:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1866702"},"modified":"2026-04-05T10:00:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T07:00:26","slug":"jokic-vs-wemby-duel-offers-glimpse-of-whats-ahead-as-spurs-playoff-test-approaches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1866702","title":{"rendered":"Joki\u0107 vs. Wemby duel offers glimpse of what\u2019s ahead as Spurs\u2019 playoff test approaches"},"content":{"rendered":"
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DENVER \u2014 No matter the outcome, Victor Wembanyama thought it was an amazing game. Nikola Joki\u0107 versus Wemby, a battle of past and potentially future MVPs. A hallmark matchup of the big-man revolution. Two kids from Europe who came to the U.S. to rewrite the sport they love, turning it into an April spectacle amid a sea of uninspiring basketball.<\/p>\n

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It was the game that showed how evolution is never swift nor linear. The Nuggets beat the Spurs in overtime 136-134, pulling off a sudden fourth-quarter comeback to show the NBA\u2019s rising tide just how rough the ocean gets when the weather gets warm.<\/p>\n

The Sombor Shuffle that Joki\u0107 buried over Wembanyama with a minute left in overtime was a reminder that the alien is merely just a living being. The most ground-bound player on earth, perhaps the most human of all the NBA\u2019s gravity defiers, became the first center to ever post 40 points, 10 assists and zero turnovers in a game.<\/p>\n

Wembanyama may be otherworldly, but Joki\u0107 was actual perfection.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it was an amazing game. Very fun. One of the most fun games. I wish we could\u2019ve closed it out,\u201d Wembanyama said. \u201cMy conclusion of this game is that it was good for us. It\u2019s a real test against a team that\u2019s actually playing for something right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Wembanyama needed this game. The NBA needed this game. These two titans hadn\u2019t seen each other this season. That matters because Wembanyama isn\u2019t the same player as he was a year ago. He isn\u2019t the same player as he was in November. The career-high 16 free throws made that clear. This was a test and even a loss the Spurs badly needed after weeks of beating up on a slew of tanking teams. It was a splash of cold water on a white-hot team to let Wembanyama know how hard things will get in the postseason.<\/p>\n

He is a much more fully formed player now, to the point he has catapulted near the top of the MVP conversation over the past two months. But in the closing moments, Joki\u0107 showed the difference between an emerging MVP and a three-time MVP.<\/p>\n

This was the first time Wembanyama and Joki\u0107 faced each other since the end of a back-to-back battle over a year ago. Wembanyama had 20 points and 23 rebounds in what was also an overtime loss. It took 46 points from Joki\u0107 that night to top him, then 40 on Saturday afternoon to do it again. All Joki\u0107 has known of this kid from France is that it takes everything he\u2019s got to beat him.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI think the first time I played against him, I told you guys he was gonna change the league, change basketball,\u201d Joki\u0107 said. \u201cI still obviously think that. He has an opportunity to be the most unique basketball player to ever play the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

For once, Wembanyama had to chase a center all over the floor, making his life much more complicated than the usual low-man baseline zone he plays. Imagine an entire series where Wembanyama doesn\u2019t get to sit in his comfort zone. These are the challenges ahead for what has been the hottest team and player in the NBA for two months.<\/p>\n

On the tying play<\/a>, Wembanyama had to chase Joki\u0107 ahead of the inbound through traffic, getting knocked off the pursuit by a clever surprise Aaron Gordon screen. Julian Champagnie had to jump off Gordon to pick up Joki\u0107, because you can never leave Joki\u0107 alone in the post, and Wembanyama tried to recover. The result was the easiest assist Joki\u0107 had of the night.<\/p>\n

As overtime carried on, the Spurs looked gassed and confused in transition defense, leading to the crucial mistake of giving Joki\u0107 a wide-open layup to ice the game with 9.8 seconds left. These are the nuances that get exposed in the playoffs, when the margins are razor-thin, and the experience of a team such as Denver shines through.<\/p>\n

But Joki\u0107 was feeling the burn of guarding Wembanyama as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe challenges (us in) so many ways defensively because of his ability to shoot the ball. He\u2019s one dribble to the basket and dunking the ball,\u201d Joki\u0107 told NBA on Prime\u2019s Taylor Rooks. \u201cIf you\u2019re one step, one millisecond late, it\u2019s probably a basket. So he definitely challenged (not) just our defense, (but) the whole league to put bodies on him and push him around.\u201d<\/p>\n

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What You Should Read Next<\/div>\n
\n \"Nikola<\/p>\n
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\n Nikola Joki\u0107, Victor Wembanyama deliver a classic, show what NBA can be at its best\n <\/div>\n
\n After both coaches promoted their stars for the MVP award, Nikola Joki\u0107 and Victor Wembanyama went out and made strong cases.\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Joki\u0107 has had showdowns with other centers, most notably against Joel Embiid when they were competing for MVPs, but his matchups with Wembanyama represent something different. These two are outliers making a sport that got bogged down in homogeneity during the 3-point revolution restore some sense of aesthetic character.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s good for sports. The way they both do it is completely different, and, at the same time, it\u2019s its own unique, awesome thing,\u201d Nuggets coach David Adelman said. \u201cYou\u2019re not gonna see two people like this in many generations.\u201d<\/p>\n

While they are both comparably dominant, the difference between Joki\u0107 and Wembanyama is the postseason experience. Joki\u0107 is up there with the greatest playoff performers of his lifetime. This is the first winning season the Spurs have had since Wembanyama was in middle school. The 22-year-old passed this playoff test on the aggregate, but he lost a step in the final minutes of overtime when Joki\u0107 took over.<\/p>\n

Wembanyama noted it was good he could handle a season-high-tying 40 minutes in Denver, saying he wasn\u2019t able to play that many minutes at altitude in the past. It was an ideal simulation for the demands of the playoffs, where Mitch Johnson vaguely acknowledged he\u2019ll be playing more than his average of roughly 30 minutes per game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m ready for anything,\u201d Wembanyama said. \u201cRight now, I\u2019m really focused on recovering and making sure my body is ready every game. So I\u2019m totally OK, even in 40 (minutes).\u201d<\/p>\n

There is a chance these teams will face off in the second round, a battle between the most dangerous mind and the most dangerous body in the game. They brought out the best in each other, which is some of the best basketball played in the NBA this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really enjoyable, really challenging,\u201d Wembanyama said. \u201cLooking forward to doing that again.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DENVER \u2014 No matter the outcome, Victor Wembanyama thought it was an amazing game. Nikola Joki\u0107 versus Wemby, a battle of past and potentially future MVPs. A hallmark matchup of the big-man revolution. Two kids from Europe who came to the U.S. to rewrite the sport they love, turning it into an April spectacle amid […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-1866702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1866702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1866702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1866702\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1866702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1866702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1866702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}