{"id":167387,"date":"2025-11-20T19:00:44","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T00:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=167387"},"modified":"2025-11-20T19:00:44","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T00:00:44","slug":"the-nba-cup-brings-you-jokic-versus-sengun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/11\/20\/the-nba-cup-brings-you-jokic-versus-sengun\/","title":{"rendered":"The NBA Cup Brings You: Jokic Versus Sengun"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Houston Rockets remain on course for a stellar season. Once again, they&#8217;re in the mix for the second seed in a loaded Western Conference. They&#8217;re also still alive in the NBA Cup. Both of those achievements will be put to the test on Friday night. What&#8217;s more, fans will hopefully get to watch a battle between the two best passing bigs in the NBA. Someone pass the popcorn &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/sengual01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alperen Sengun<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jokicni01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nikola Jokic<\/a> are going to put on a show.<\/p>\n<h2>The NBA Cup Brings You: Jokic Versus Sengun<\/h2>\n<p>The Rockets defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/game\/hou-vs-cle-0022500255\/box-score?watch=&amp;utm_campaign=unknown&amp;utm_source=rockets&amp;utm_medium=web\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Wednesday night<\/a>. It turned into something of a statement game for the Rockets&#8217; 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 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mobleev01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Evan Mobley<\/a>. Mobley is a genuinely transformative defender. Defending a player like Sengun one-on-one is not his niche.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Alperen Sengun (28 points) Highlights vs. Cleveland Cavaliers\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8yc9ga6uNMc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Of course, luckily for Mobley, players like Sengun aren\u2019t exactly a dime a dozen in the NBA. There is one, though. A center who\u2019s 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\u2019s Rockets will play three-time MVP Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets.<\/p>\n<h3>The Jokic, Sengun Matchup<\/h3>\n<p>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\u2019s already looking like an <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/11\/11\/shai-gilgeous-alexander-top-mvp-candidate-so-far\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">MVP race rematch<\/a> between him and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/gilgesh01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/a>. 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\u2019s own year-five campaign.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_158438\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-158438\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-158438\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/09\/USATSI_25515111_168404789_lowres-1024x686.jpg\" alt=\"Houston Rockets center Alperen Sengun guards Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo\" width=\"640\" height=\"429\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/09\/USATSI_25515111_168404789_lowres-1024x686.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/09\/USATSI_25515111_168404789_lowres-300x201.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/09\/USATSI_25515111_168404789_lowres-768x515.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/09\/USATSI_25515111_168404789_lowres-1536x1029.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/09\/USATSI_25515111_168404789_lowres-2048x1372.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-158438\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Feb 25, 2025; Houston, Texas, USA; Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (34) attempts to drive with the ball around Houston Rockets center Alperen Sengun (28) during the fourth quarter at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Sengun\u2019s 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\u2019t help him much with is guarding Jokic one-on-one.<\/p>\n<p>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 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/adamsst01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Steven Adams<\/a> since the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/adamsst01\/gamelog\/2026\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">second game of the season<\/a>. 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<h3>2024-25<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/stathead\/basketball\/vs\/denver-nuggets-vs-houston-rockets\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Last season<\/a>, the Rockets went 1-2 against the Nuggets. Unfortunately for the Rockets, their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/boxscores\/202501150DEN.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">only win<\/a> came when Jokic was out. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jordade01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">DeAndre Jordan<\/a> started in his place and finished with zero points, zero rebounds, and zero shot attempts despite playing over 23 minutes.<\/p>\n<p>Even more unfortunately for the Rockets, Jokic was also out in one of the games the Nuggets won. In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/boxscores\/202503230HOU.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">that one<\/a>, Jordan had some redemption with 11, 15, and 4. But even if Jokic had played in those games, there\u2019s no guarantee the matchup would be handled the same way on Denver\u2019s part. Since then, Denver\u2019s coach, Mike Malone, was fired and replaced by David Adleman.<\/p>\n<p>However, take what you want from that, as the only actual Jokic versus Sengun encounter was a post-Malone <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/boxscores\/202504130HOU.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">clash in April<\/a>. 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.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Denver Nuggets vs Houston Rockets Full Game Highlights - April 13, 2025 | NBA Regular Season\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YMIqIyvduCY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3>The Adjustments<\/h3>\n<p>As for Houston\u2019s 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\u2019s shot attempts being three-pointers doesn\u2019t 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\u2019re that wide open, it\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, Denver&#8217;s strategy will have to be different this time around as well. Sengun&#8217;s backup has gone from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/greenja05.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jalen Green<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/v\/vanvlfr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fred VanVleet<\/a> to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/duranke01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kevin Durant<\/a>. 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 <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/11\/14\/rockets-face-must-win-nba-cup-bout\/\" target=\"_self\">must-win NBA Cup game<\/a>. Every team in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/boxscores\/202504130HOU.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Houston and Denver&#8217;s group<\/a> is currently 1-1. Moreover, whichever team wins will be the second seed in the ultra-competitive <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/standings?utm_campaign=unknown&amp;utm_source=rockets&amp;utm_medium=web\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Western Conference<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>The Last Word<\/h3>\n<p>Jokic, as the best passing big man in the league, still isn&#8217;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&#8217;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&#8217;s an NBA Cup game? Not at all. But basketball fans&#8217; cups runneth over nonetheless.<\/p>\n<p>Featured Image: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Houston Rockets remain on course for a stellar season. Once again, they&#8217;re in the mix for the second seed in a loaded Western Conference. They&#8217;re also still alive in the NBA Cup. Both of those achievements will be put to the test on Friday night. What&#8217;s more, fans will hopefully get to watch a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5223,"featured_media":157756,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,31,62],"tags":[4293,72],"class_list":["post-167387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-rockets","category-nba","tag-alperen-sengun","tag-nikola-jokic"],"modified_by":"Benjamin Yu","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5223"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167387"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":167411,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167387\/revisions\/167411"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}