JJ Redick, Richard Jefferson Defended Rudy Gobert's Defense vs. Nikola Jokic

Stephen Douglas | May 15, 2024

May 14, 2024; Denver, Colorado, USA; Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (15) controls the ball as / Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

The Denver Nuggets beat the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals on Tuesday night. MVP Nikola Jokic was literally unstoppable, treating fans to an all-time great performance that could haunt Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert for the rest of his life. Jokic scored 40 points and dished out 13 asssist and Gobert was helpless.

During TNT's postgame show, Draymond Green, who put Gobert in a literal chokehold earlier this season and got suspended, gave his unbiased opinion on Gobert's performance, telling the audience that the big man "got cooked" by Jokic and should have gotten some stops if he wanted his team to win.

Wednesday morning on The Old Man & The Three podcast, JJ Redick, wearing a backwards hat, and Richard Jefferson defended Gobert's defense by pointing out that anyone would have been cooked by Jokic last night.

.@jj_redick and @Rjeff24 react to the fans who are blaming Rudy Gobert for Nikola Jokić’s incredible performance last night.

Full conversation from their live this morning: https://t.co/DquQlRykY8 pic.twitter.com/pBKLwivNXF

— TheOldMan&TheThree (@OldManAndThree) May 15, 2024

"Jokic is, he's the best player in the world," said Redick. "He's going to f-----g score against anybody. Also, did you see the moves and the shots he was making at times? Like, oh no, maybe it's just the offensive player is that good."

While Jefferson laughed and nodded his head, Redick continued. "Denver had to figure out a way to get Gobert away the basket. That's the challenge against the Minnesota Timberwolves. It was the challenge against the Utah Jazz. It's not an indictment of Rudy Gobert. It's f---ing basketball!" Then Jefferson point out Jokic does it to everyone, which Redick has recentlydiscussed with LeBron Jameson a different podcast.

"I don't understand, Oh that's your Defensive Player of the Year," said Jefferson. "OK? Well, I'll tell you what. You line all five of them up. The top five candidates. Jokic would do the exact same thing to every single one of them. And he has. Multiple times over."

For some context, here's a compilation of the moves that Gobert failed to stop and some of them are insane. The fact that Gobert was closely contesting most of these is impressive work. Jokic making the shots over Gobert is even more impressive.

Look at the video. Gobert was right there. Jokic is just too good. pic.twitter.com/FjgShI9INQ

— Steph Noh (@StephNoh) May 15, 2024

It somehow feels like the overreactions to every single game is more intense than ever. One of the best defenders of all-time had trouble with one of the best offensive players of all-time. As Redick noted, Gobert had done a great job against Jokic earlier in the series, but that who cares when talking heads have the memories of goldfish. Keep that in mind if the Nuggets don't close out the series on Thursday. Or don't. It's not like anyone will remember.