Mavericks’ Jason Kidd reveals the secret to Nikola Jokic’s success

DALLAS — The Dallas Mavericks will host the Denver Nuggets again on Tuesday night. Denver beat Dallas 112-101 on Sunday, as the Nuggets used a fourth-quarter comeback to win. Defending Nuggets star Nikola Jokic is a tough challenge to say the least. While we are talking about the center Derek Lively IIPerformance against Jokic, the head coach of the Mavs Jason Kidd discovered the basic part of Jokić’s game which doesn’t always get enough attention.

“How could he,” Kidd said of how Lively played against Jokic. “When you’re talking about the best player in the world, you’re not going to shut him out… You can double him, he’s seen doubles, he’s seen one-on-ones… Lively did the best he could. (Daniel Gafford) and (Maxi Kleber), too. But that’s why he (Jokić) is considered one of the best, if not the best in the world.

“You can double it, you can play it straight. His passing ability and offensive rebounding is something that, you know, is at a very high level for a seven-footer. Passing, yes, but I don’t think he gets enough credit when he shoots it, it always comes off the bounce. The opponent never gets a rebound…I think that’s how smart his basketball IQ is, realizing that if he misses it, he knows where it’s going to go.”

Kidd wasn’t the only head coach to have compliments on Tuesday. Nuggets coach Michael Malone praised Lively while discussing the center’s efforts against Jokic.

“You have to look at their game plan,” Malone said. “I think Derek Lively is a hell of a young talent.” They have a two-headed, sometimes three-headed monster, they throw out Lively, they throw out Gafford, they throw out Maxie, and they try to send bodies at Nicolas and wear him down. But to Jason Kidd’s credit, they don’t let Nicola play on the bench, so it’s really hard to tell how Lively did because every time we put Nicola on, they immediately doubled him. There were two bodies on it, they had previously rotated, and there we are trying to free Nikola in other ways.

“But Derek Lively’s upside and potential is obviously incredible and, you know, he was a big reason for the run they had last season.”

The Mavericks will try to finish the job on Tuesday night against the Nuggets.