Clippers head coach: I asked my teacher to play like a guard when playing Zubac, and like a center when facing a guard

In the previous NBA regular season, the Denver Nuggets defeated the Los Angeles Clippers at home 130-116. After this game, the Nuggets' record, which has won six consecutive games, has improved to 9 wins and 2 losses, and their ranking has climbed to second place in the Western Conference; while the Clippers, who have suffered six consecutive losses, have dropped to 3 wins and 8 losses, continuing to rank 12th in the Western Conference. After the game, Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue accepted an interview with reporters. In the interview, he also talked about a series of incredible performances by the opponent's inside core Nikola Jokic.

Director Lu said: We tried double-teaming Jokic. The original plan was to let him score more points and cut off his passing routes so that other players could not participate in the team's offense. I thought we did a good job doing that in the first half, and we all knew Jamal Murray was going to be more aggressive in the second half. But in the second half of the game, we did have a big problem on the defensive end. We had no way to effectively restrict Jokic. He simply destroyed our defense.

Director Lu continued: I really didn’t expect him to score 55 points. He made some three-pointers in the game. When we defended him with Ivica Zubac, he played like a defender. You know, he used tactics such as screening and passing to score or pass to teammates. This style of play was indeed a bit difficult for Zubac to deal with. Then when we used small players to defend him, he adjusted his style of play and chose to post-up in the low post. This was indeed a difficult defensive matchup. I really didn't expect that he would score as high as 55 points under our defense.

In this game, Jokic played 33 minutes and 34 seconds, shooting 18 of 23, 5 of 6 from beyond the three-point line, and 14 of 16 free throws. He scored a game-high 55 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal and 1 block. He also had 2 turnovers and 1 foul. The plus-minus value also reached a game-high +28. It is worth mentioning that 55 points is also the third highest score in a single game in Mr. Yue’s career. Since the start of this season, Teacher Yue has averaged 33.9 minutes per game in the first 11 games, averaging 28.8 points, 13.1 rebounds, 10.9 assists, 1.8 steals, and 0.7 blocks per game. He also has 3 turnovers and 2.6 fouls. He has a shooting percentage of 68.4%, a three-point shooting percentage of 41.7%, and a free throw percentage of 85.9%. With Teacher Yue's ability and his state in the game, it is indeed incomprehensible that the Clippers did not choose to continue high-pressure defense against him.