Here is as satisfying a highlight as this NBA season will produce: That’s reigning MVP Nikola Jokić of the Denver Nuggets giving the business to Sacramento’s Damian Jones earlier this month. Like most of the Serbian center’s best plays, it begs for metaphor — a boulder running a slalom course, maybe — but the bare-bones […]
As the NBA shifted away from two-big lineups in recent seasons, we saw a relative devaluation of the center position. While big men used to be the centerpieces of teams’ plans on both ends of the floor, they are now more often complementary members. There are exceptions, of course. Reigning MVP Nikola Jokić and runner-up […]
Midway through the first quarter of Game 3 between the Milwaukee Bucks and Phoenix Suns, Giannis Antetokounmpo rejoined the game to replace Brook Lopez. Antetokounmpo had left the game earlier than usual, after only three and a half minutes, possibly to set up a small-ball group with the two-time MVP at center. The idea of […]
The NBA’s best players are bellwethers. Their excellence is taken as a template; they are understood to say something about the state of the game. That Nikola Jokić and Joel Embiid, the winner of and runner-up for the 2021 MVP award, put up such commendable years has a meta meaning, at least to those tired […]