Film Study: The Denver Nuggets’ Off-ball Offensive Masterpiece

Nikola Jokic’s Nuggets eliminated Phoenix in emphatic fashion Thursday night, highlighted by an 81-point first half. It was one of the best offensive performances the NBA has ever seen, but it looked different than many NBA scoring barrages do. Denver made only eight three pointers in the entire game, and very rarely did any of its players cook an opposing defender 1 on 1. Instead, they utilized space, misdirection, cutting, and off-ball screens to embarrass the defense and put on a dominant display.

Let’s take a closer look at the ingredients that went into this delicious dominant victory. It won’t be easy to separate these clips neatly into categories, but I’ll try my best to highlight a few of the themes that appear.

Preface: Vacating Space

This is a concept that may be partially derived from soccer, and has oft been utilized in European basketball, but it’s slowly worked its way into the NBA mainstream as a positive side effect of the spacing era. The traditional mindset of basketball might be compared more to hockey: have a bunch of players around the basket, because that’s the easiest place to score. But the soccer model is almost the inverse: leave those areas open, allowing players to run into the space as a pass is thrown. With the help of the gravity brought by the three point line, teams like the Warriors and Nuggets have maximized this strategy on the NBA floor. By pulling Nikola Jokic out of the paint, Denver opens up room for its other four players to get in behind the defense. This is something I want you to keep in mind as you watch these clips, because its fingerprints are all over the Nuggets’ offense.

Jokic’s Scoring Gravity

At this point, Nikola Jokic’s passing is well-renowned. He just might be the best passer in the history of basketball, and if not, he’s on the shortlist. Still, his scoring is alarmingly underrated in the mainstream discourse. This is probably because he doesn’t score at a crazy high volume during the regular season. While some stars are averaging 30 points per game on pretty good scoring efficiency, Jokic averages 25 instead, but does so with ridiculoudly efficient percentages. In this playoffs, he’s proven he can ramp up the volume when needed. He finished this series averaging 34.5 per game, while still shooting 60% from the field and 44% from three. Oh, and he also put up 13.2 rebounds and 10.3 assists for good measure.

In these clips, you can see just how much defenses have to respect Jokic’s scoring. If he wasn’t such an efficient scorer, it would be far easier for them to leave him 1 on 1, but that’s clearly not a winning formula…

We don’t usually think of Jokic as the ball handler in a pick & roll situation, but he’s more than capable. In this clip, the play has broken down, and he has space, so Bruce Brown sets a little ball screen to give him a runway, they don’t switch, and that half step is all Jokic needs. Notice how he uses his body to finish the layup, too.

This time, we get to see what happens when you do switch. Last clip, we saw Jokic get just enough of a head start to score. This time, he just bullies his way to a basket over Devin Booker. If you watch it again, it seems like this was Aaron Gordon’s plan all along, sometimes we call this a “pick & switch” when the offense clearly just sets it to get a mismatch. This probably could’ve been an illegal screen, but it’s rarely called.

At the very start of this clip, you see Biyombo pointing for a switch, and KCP just lobs the ball to Jokic, who goes to town against Terrence Ross. I’m really not sure how you guard this move.

This is just another unguardable move from Jokic. Here, it looks like he might set a ball screen, but instead it’s a Joel Embiid style elbow iso. Also, watch how Jokic forces some contact, and then uses that bump to get a step on his defender, utilizing his pivot foot really efficiently, like all the great post scorers have. Funnily enough, he misses this layup and puts it back in.

I like this one because it’s at the end of the shot clock, and it’s a 1 on 1 isolation, and Jokic just goes and gets a bucket. A phrase like that makes many fans think of a Devin Booker or Jayson Tatum or Kevin Durant or DeMar DeRozan getting off a fadeaway 17-footer. But Jokic’s way of doing it is much more efficient. He’s one of the best scorers in the league.

I just titled this clip “Jokic tomfoolery” because it’s such a funny looking move, but we can learn a lot from it. Again, Jokic has clearly proven that he is really hard to guard 1 on 1. The defensive answer to his passing is not so simple as ‘never bring a double’, because he can drop an efficient 53 on you. In particular, this clip shows the danger of switching. This comes on the heels of a double drag action, and Shamet is left guarding Jokic, who takes a second to notice that, and then scores over him in humorous fashion. Had it been a center guarding him, this wouldn’t have been as easy to do.

Here we see an example of Jokic’s scoring gravity. Think about how Steph Curry is guarded when he’s coming off screens behind the three point line. Defenses know they have to overhelp, becuase he’s such a threat, and this opens up all kinds of other things. Here we see Jokic dribbling down into the post, ready to make some kind of crazy Jokic shot, but notice how Cam Payne takes one or two extra steps down into his way, which leaves Bruce Brown just a little bit too open in the corner. Another thing to note here: Payne was originally guarding KCP, but he had to switch onto Brown after a little screen/cut here. Movements like that give defenders an extra thing to think about, and that makes it even more difficult to be in the exact right help defense position.

This one is really subtle, but it’s fascinating. Jokic gets Jock Landale on his back, and starts to spin into position for a back post pass. When the ball is passed to Gordon, flashing at the high post, Jokic is already past Landale and heading toward the rim. Seems like Kevin Durant doesn’t know what to do, he freezes, worried about Jokic, and leaves Gordon wide, wide open for the jumper. Watch it one more time, and note how Jokic kinda shoves Landale right as Gordon is catching the ball. He’s using the old Reggie Miller move, extending his arms as a way to create space off-ball, and it totally works. He may not get any credit for these two points in the box score, but he’s actually playing a big part.

DHO’s and Double Drag

As previously mentioned, Jokic spends a lot of time at the top of the key, and that’s when Denver will run some of these DHO (dribble hand off) type actions off of him. Sometimes that’ll result in a pick and roll, sometimes a drive for the guard, or a keeper for Jokic. Could be three for the guard, or a three for Jokic, could be a backdoor cut or a slip. Double drag is a general term for actions where two players run staggered DHO’s or ball screens. Again, these actions can look a lot different depending on the read that Jokic and his teammates make, but it’s one of the primary ways they utilize that space that they created by starting these actions 20 feet from the basket…

This is a classic example of a double drag play. Gordon and Jokic both screen for Murray (staggered ball screens). In this case, and many Nuggets cases, Gordon will roll to the basket and Jokic will pop. This could lead to a pass to the rolling Gordon, a bucket for Murray if he keeps it, or a pass to Jokic, which is what happens here. Of course, he could have very easily taken this three — he made 44% of them in this series — but he blows by Biyombo and opts for his signature floater/runner instead. Most important thing to notice: the reason he’s so wide open when he catches the ball is because Shamet got caught up on the two ball screens, which forced Biyombo to drop back and help on Murray. Had Biyombo stuck to Jokic, there would’ve been trouble anyway.

Here’s another double drag action, this time from the 4th quarter. Braun comes through first, but it’s not there, so Jokic runs his two-man game with KCP. This turns into a classic pick & roll in the end.

This is a low DHO down by the corner, but you can clearly see how it opens things up, as Payne gets caught on Jokic’s screen (and even falls down), leaving the Nuggets with a 3 on 2, resulting in a Phoenix foul.

Now look at this one. This sets up the exact same as the clip above, and this time Cam Payne anticipates the DHO, taking one step towards that corner. But KCP instead cuts back toward the middle, and that one step was just enough to get by Payne. This ends up as a ridiculous finish from KCP, but that subtle misdirection was enough to get him going downhill.

Just imagine you’re Payne on this play below. You’re guarding KCP. He passes to Jokic, and you’re probably worried about one of two things… first, that he’ll go around Jokic for a DHO (like the clip two before this one). Second, you’re worried he’s gonna fake that DHO and backcut you (like the clip right before this one). But instead, he flares off Jokic and over a JaMychal Green screen (you probably didn’t even know he was there) to hit a three in your eye. Hopefully you’re starting to see the complexities and nuances of these actions.

Misdirection / Multiple Screens

To be candid, this category might be something of a ‘miscellaneous’, because the Nuggets run so much intersting stuff centered around off-ball screens and cuts. This will often feature Jamal Murray, who’s a great cutter and shooter off movement, or Aaron Gordon, who has come into his own as a cutter and often uses his strength and size to occupy the paint when Jokic steps out. The most interesting part of these clips is the way they can often look similar, because there are so many options for the offensive players to consider, making all of this stuff so hard to predict and defend…

I had to find a place for this play. I know the layup attempt gets totally swatted, but look at how quickly Bruce Brown cuts backdoor once Jokic touches this ball. Torrey Craig (#0, guarding Brown) turns to help on Jokic, then realizes his error, and does a total 360 trying to find Brown, who’s already going up with it. Brown is one of those Denver players who has adjusted so well to playing with Jokic. He’s very eager to cut and able find the space.

Remember that idea of vacating the space around the basket? This is a textbook example. Jokic is at the top of the key, and Aaron Gordon sneaks out to the wing to set this backscreen for Bruce Brown. Landry Shamet goes over it, and Brown has a clear lane to cut to the rim, where he finishes around the help.

This play just looks like a really smart pass, but there’s more to it. First, watch Gordon screen for Bruce Brown, who’s flaring away from the ball. Worried about a three, Brown’s defender stays with Gordon, and they switch it. Now, Gordon has a mismatch, and starts rolling to the basket, and Torrey Craig, who’s guarding Reggie Jackson in the corner, comes to help on Gordon. Jokic is processing all of this in real time, and perfectly times a pass to Jackson for the three.

This next clip is similar, but without that shooter occupying the corner. Murray passes to Jokic and then flares away from the ball. The Suns do switch it again, but KD, the defender assigned to the screener (Gordon again), stays low, which opens up a three for Murray. Again, Jokic processes all of this on the fly and makes the perfect read. On the surface, looks like Durant totally lost his man, but if he steps out, Murray could backcut, Gordon could roll, or Jokic could drive. It’s a mistake, but not as indefensible as it looks.

This one is a great example of something the Nuggets, especially Gordon, utilize more than other teams. This play is set up as a classic empty side pick & roll. Three Nuggets stand on the far side while Murray and Jokic run it. The Suns help over a little too much, and in most cases, this would result in a corner three for the Nuggets. But Aaron Gordon uses this chance to cut to the basket instead, and he gets a wide open dunk out of it. Watch Durant on this play. He clearly isn’t execting Gordon to crash in, and he probably things this ball is going to the corner. Craziest part is, it probably could have — MPJ is pretty much wide open in the corner too.

This play just makes your head spin. To simplify it, let’s just start by thinking of KCP and Porter Jr as rooks, immobile in the corners, not involved in the action. It looks like a three-man play. Murray is running around, first off of a downscreen from Gordon, then a DHO from Jokic. Gordon clears out, down to the far block. Because Murray is coming off of those two screens, his man is behind, and Jokic’s steps over to cover. Murray’s bounce pass here is really precise and very well-timed. The Suns actually guard this pretty well. Booker rotates over to Jokic, terrified of his floater, and then MPJ is the open man. He cuts, and Durant is just a half second late in rotating over to him. Two points. Again, Phoenix did a pretty solid job of rotating, but this is what the Nuggets offense does… they make four or even five defenders think and make a decision, and if they’re out of sync, or even if 1/5 is a little late, they capitalize.

This is just so sick. It’s Jamal Murray setting a crosscreen for Jokic… how many teams will have their point guard set this pick for their center? But then Jokic instantly uses this chance to screen Murray’s defender, Booker, who is utterly blindsided by it. The Suns are just completely in shambles, as Terrence Ross slides over to help for a second, but Booker thinks it’s going to be a complete switch, and they end up both guading Bruce Brown, who isn’t even doing anything, as Murray drives down the wide open lane. Credit to Jock Landale for helping over, but Murray reads that perfectly, and the behind the back bounce pass to Jokic is *chef’s kiss*. Meanwhile Kevin Durant stands frozen at the 3pt line. (Note: the best part is Jokic pointing at Murray right as Porter goes to pass to him)