Celtics vs Nuggets Showcasing Best Passing Bigs in NBA

Nikola Jokic and Al Horford will be one of the best matchups of bigs in the NBA this season

The Boston Celtics will be playing the Denver Nuggets tonight, and it will feature one of the most intriguing matchups the NBA has to offer in Al Horford and Nikola Jokic. In the age of the unicorn, bigs are doing things on the court that one time may have seen impossible. When it comes to passing, both Jokic and Horford have been as good as any big in the history of this game.

Both of these teams run a lot of their offense through their big, and they are the two most important facilitators for their offense. No teams ask more from their bigs as passers than these two, and they have helped redefine what an offense can do with their bigs.

Draymond Green and DeMarcus Cousins are the only bigs that average more assists per game than them, but it is hard to make the case that their passing is more important. The Warriors to not design their offense around the passing of Green, but he is masterful at finding all the shooting he has around him. Cousins is a lot more responsible in his offense, but it is more about his individual play making, rather than how the entire offense functions.

When you look at the actual passes being made, Jokic does things that no one else in the league does. He has a special kind of vision and puts the ball where he needs to no matter what position he is in. Jokic continually makes passes that seem impossible, and it is an absolute terror for teams to try and defend that kind of offensive threat.

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One thing about both these players is their have incredible balance and intelligence. They never spend too much time just looking to make a pass or just looking to make a shot, and they never make the plays that hurt their team. They force the defense to adjust in so many different ways, and always know how they need to attack in any situation.

While Horford may not make as many different and difficult passes as Jokic, he facilitates in a lot more ways. Pairing Horford with Brad Stevens has transformed how he approaches the game, and he opens things up for his teammates in ways that will never come up on a stat sheet.

Teams have to respect Horford as a shooter as much as any other big, and Stevens is masterful at running things through the space he makes and how that can open up their ball movement. Horford may not make as many plays as Jokic does, but he will impact the offense in more different ways because of the secondary passing that often comes from what he does.

Both of these players are models of efficiency, and play offense at their position in an unprecedented way. The winner of this individual matchup is going to be the most interesting part of this game. Jokic has showcased more talent on offense, but Horford can make the difference through the defense he plays.

Horford does not need to out do everything Jokic does on the offensive end. Instead, he needs to make sure his defense limits him enough, preventing him from doing things that are out of Horford’s reach.

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It should be a lot of fun watching both these offenses go to work, because it is a rare feat to see the main facilitators be the biggest guys on the court. The have the kind of versatility that is always going to be hard to find in the NBA, and you should enjoy every minute of watching them.

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