Over the last couple of years, Los Angeles Lakers superstar big man Anthony Davis has had a number of battles with reigning NBA MVP Nikola Jokic. And now he and Team USA are set for another showdown as they face a Jokic-led Serbia team in the semifinals of the 2024 Olympics on Thursday.
Team USA has already beaten Serbia twice this summer, once in an exhibition and again in the first game of group play. But Jokic is known to take his game to another level in the highest stakes contests and it is impossible to completely shut him down.
But Team USA does have a strategy on limiting certain aspects of his game as Davis spoke about following the Americans’ quarterfinal victory over Brazil. The big man believes they need to limit one thing in Jokic’s game, and in their mind that is his passing.
“Obviously he can score the basketball in multiple ways, from the 3, the post, midrange. We just got to take away one thing,” Davis said in an interview with NBC on Tuesday. “We’ve been able to take away his assists, getting other guys involved. If he scores and shoots the ball then he scores and shoots the ball. We want to take away his assists. But we’ll have a game plan ready, kind of switch it up knowing that these rounds are a little different. They had a tough game tonight but I know they’ll be ready for Thursday and so will we.”
Defense has been crucial to the success of Team USA in these Olympics and figuring out how to limit Jokic is the top priority. One good thing in their favor is that they have three big bodies to throw at him in Davis, Joel Embiid and Bam Adebayo, which should help to make things difficult on him.
Much like LeBron James, Jokic is a generational passer and lifting up his teammates with that unreal court vision is his best trait. But if Jokic is the only one really scoring for Serbia then Team USA has a much better chance to get by and move into that Gold medal game. And there is no doubt that Davis will play a big role in trying to contain who many see as the bets player in the world.
Anthony Davis enjoying defensive-focused role on Team USA
Anthony Davis has enjoyed an excellent run for Team USA this summer, being the team’s best and most reliable big. And he has done so without having to focus on scoring the ball too much, which is a role he is enjoying.
Davis recently spoke on this, noting that he is adjustable and has an ‘unselfish mindset’ in general so he has no problems deferring to the likes of Kevin Durant and Anthony Edwards to handle the scoring load while he focuses on defense. That has worked perfectly as Davis leads Team USA in both total rebounds and blocked shots in these Olympics.
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