The Houston Rockets remain on course for a stellar season. Once again, they’re in the mix for the second seed in a loaded Western Conference. They’re also still alive in the NBA Cup. Both of those achievements will be put to the test on Friday night. What’s more, fans will hopefully get to watch a battle between the two best passing bigs in the NBA. Someone pass the popcorn – Alperen Sengun and Nikola Jokic are going to put on a show.
The NBA Cup Brings You: Jokic Versus Sengun
The Rockets defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night. It turned into something of a statement game for the Rockets’ All-Star center, Alperen Sengun. Sengun scored 28 points on 17 attempts from the floor and dished out 7 assists. The Cavs opted for single coverage. Presumably, they felt well placed to do that, considering they had a reigning Defensive Player of the Year to stick on him in Evan Mobley. Mobley is a genuinely transformative defender. Defending a player like Sengun one-on-one is not his niche.
Of course, luckily for Mobley, players like Sengun aren’t exactly a dime a dozen in the NBA. There is one, though. A center who’s averaging not far off a dozen dimes of his own. One that the Rockets will face on Friday night. One who is averaging a near 30-point triple-double on unprecedented efficiency. On Friday night, Sengun’s Rockets will play three-time MVP Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets.
The Jokic, Sengun Matchup
So far, this season, Jokic is averaging 29.1 points, 13.2 rebounds, 11.1 assists, 1.7 steals, and 0.8 blocks per game on 73.6% true shooting with 3.6 turnovers. It’s already looking like an MVP race rematch between him and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Sengun is averaging 23.4 points, 10.4 rebounds, 7.4 assists, 1.2 steals, and 1.0 blocks per game on 58.0% true shooting with 3.5 turnovers. The comparison with an established all-time great unsurprisingly does Sengun no favors. Notably, however, his numbers are slightly better than Jokic’s own year-five campaign.
Sengun’s one statistical advantage of blocks per game does stand in for a more meaningful advantage, which is his defense overall. Neither of them excels as a rim protector, and both rely primarily on their cerebral ability to read plays and passing lanes. Nonetheless, Sengun is significantly more spry and mobile. That helps him excel even under the defensively minded Rockets coach, Ime Udoka. What it won’t help him much with is guarding Jokic one-on-one.
There is some doubt whether the matchup will be played straight up between the two big men anyway. Wednesday night was the first start for Rockets center Steven Adams since the second game of the season. The adjustment made sense against the fellow double-big enthusiast Cavaliers. Starting Adams versus the Nuggets would make less sense. Jokic plays his best defense when he’s essentially defending nobody at all. Adams puts a slow-moving body out there that Jokic can float off of to interrupt drives and passing lanes.
2024-25
Last season, the Rockets went 1-2 against the Nuggets. Unfortunately for the Rockets, their only win came when Jokic was out. DeAndre Jordan started in his place and finished with zero points, zero rebounds, and zero shot attempts despite playing over 23 minutes.
Even more unfortunately for the Rockets, Jokic was also out in one of the games the Nuggets won. In that one, Jordan had some redemption with 11, 15, and 4. But even if Jokic had played in those games, there’s no guarantee the matchup would be handled the same way on Denver’s part. Since then, Denver’s coach, Mike Malone, was fired and replaced by David Adleman.
However, take what you want from that, as the only actual Jokic versus Sengun encounter was a post-Malone clash in April. Jokic had 18 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists on 7-10 shooting from the field (half his attempts were three-pointers). Sengun: 14 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists on 7-14 from the field. The Nuggets won 126-111. The benches were empty by the start of the fourth quarter.
The Adjustments
As for Houston’s strategy, Adams did play 17 minutes. That included spells alongside Sengun as the primary Jokic defender. Or rather, as the nominal Jokic defender. The strategy was apparently to leave Jokic wide open for whatever three he wanted. Half of Jokic’s shot attempts being three-pointers doesn’t sound like a bad thing on paper. He does have the best touch around the basket of possibly any big man ever. But when they’re that wide open, it’s probably an issue for the defense. Houston should try their luck with Sengun as the primary defender. Any concern about picking up fouls will go both ways, and the Rockets do have a home-court advantage.
Of course, Denver’s strategy will have to be different this time around as well. Sengun’s backup has gone from Jalen Green and Fred VanVleet to Kevin Durant. As fun as it will be to watch the two best passing bigs in the NBA battling back and forth, there will be plenty more going on. Not least, this will be another essentially must-win NBA Cup game. Every team in Houston and Denver’s group is currently 1-1. Moreover, whichever team wins will be the second seed in the ultra-competitive Western Conference.
The Last Word
Jokic, as the best passing big man in the league, still isn’t passing the torch any time soon. The only person who might conceivably think Sengun is the better player right now is Sengun himself, and even that much is hard to believe. What isn’t hard to believe is that Sengun and the Rockets will bring their absolute A-game on Friday night. Does it really matter that it’s an NBA Cup game? Not at all. But basketball fans’ cups runneth over nonetheless.
Featured Image: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
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