Nikola Jokic and Draymond Green are the best at what they do

1. The first battle will be about getting the ball to Jokic in the post. Draymond does a great job of leaning on Jokic walling off his angles. Lazy passes will result in turnovers. Even good passes will have to be on point to help Jokic hold deep post position.

2. Jokic took a lot of faceup jump shots against Draymond. Perhaps he settled. Maybe he felt comfortable being able to over the top.

3. Draymond is going to try to get extremely physical with Jokic, especially in the post. Watch how he leans on Jokic and crowds his space on every spin. Jokic has gotten better at drawing fouls but I don’t think the Nuggets can count on plays like the ones below to result in cheap fouls. Jokic is going to have to find ways to absorb that contact and finish with finesse.

4. The Warriors are going to look to avoid switches whenever Draymond is at center. The Nuggets are elite at forcing switches, even when teams are trying hard to avoid it. That will be micro battle that happens every time down the court. But even when the Warriors show and switch back quickly like in the clip below, there is a window of opportunity for the Nuggets to take shots. Denver will likely have a few actions prepared to get quick shots off in moments like the one below where the Warriors try to sneak a switch and switch back into a handoff or screen.

5. The Warriors will also send a hard double on Jokic whenever the shot clock dips below 8.

6. Draymond is probably the most locked in defender in the NBA. He never takes his foot off of the gas and he never misses an assignment. This is especially true on the defensive glass where he doesn’t stop battling until the rebound is secured.

7. But Jokic is always locked in on offense. He will spend a lot of this series trying to cut low when Draymond jumps high, and vice versa. Below, Draymond anticipates that Jokic is heading for the low post. Jokic sees that anticipation and jumps into a ball screen.

8. Aaron Gordon is the x-factor for the Nuggets in the Jokic-Draymond matchup. With Draymond at center, the Warriors will be even smaller at power forward but with a lesser defender. The Nuggets played through Gordon a lot in those minutes back in 2021. I suspect that posting AG will be a big part of the game plan in game one.

9. The Nuggets may also look for AG to attack Looney when the Warriors play big.

10. Looney is a good defender but Jokic should have an advantage on him in the post, at the elbow, and from the perimeter so long as Draymond is taken away from helpside.

11. The timing of every cut is going to be especially important when Draymond is the roaming double team defender.

12. This double cut worked to perfection. The first cut pulled in Draymond. The 2nd cut right behind earned an easy shot in the paint.

13. The Warriors are not afraid to go deep under the screen on Austin Rivers and Will Barton. Both guys will need to hit shots early in this series to keep them honest.

14. On the other end of the court, the Nuggets cannot get beat off of the dribble. Both Steph Curry and Jordan Poole like to reject the screen whenever possible. Get beat and it is an easy downhill race toward the basket against a spread out helpside.

15. What makes the Warriors so dynamic is that they have players who all know how to read the flow of a read and react offense quickly. Here are just three separate options off of a pindown or double pindown screen. Denver’s defenders will have to be prepared for all options at all times.

16. The Warriors seamlessly transition from one action to the next without any hesitation or hitch. Their scorers stay in constant motion. Denver will have to defend each possession for 24 seconds.

17. The Warriors also have several different ways of running split cuts.

18. And throughout their read and react system, the Warriors only need the tiniest bit of daylight to get a shot off.

19. The Warriors are at their best when they can find Draymond on the short roll out of a trap.

20. The Suns provide a great example of how stopping the Warriors often requires perfect technique as well as perfect schematic execution.