It is not some crime to be skeptical about the Denver Nuggets defense holding up in the playoffs. Nikola Jokic is not a rim protector. (It is a crime -- a basketball crime, anyway -- to pretend as if Jokic has had less postseason success than Joel Embiid. Both have been centerpieces on undermanned teams which were dispatched in the first round -- Jokic last season against the eventual champions; Embiid in the bubble against the Boston Celtics with Ben Simmons out. Jokic has reached one conference final; Embiid has never been that far. Jokic's individual postseason numbers are better. None of this should matter in the MVP debate, but there appears to be a misconception in some corners that Jokic's lack of postseason success should be held against him relative to Embiid.)

Best way to set up a post about Denver's defense is to immediately bring up Embiid and trash him too, keep the sixers fans at bay

The Nuggets try to scheme around that. Michael Malone has been much more creative varying up tactics -- zones, more conservative dropback coverages, having guards duck screens against so-so shooters, even stashing Jokic on nonthreatening wings. (This toggling was overdue.)

Jokic makes up for some of his limitations with steals, smart positioning, and sticky defensive rebounding. Denver's defense is much stingier with Jokic on the floor.

But Denver opponents have hit 71% at the rim -- the second-worst figure among all defenses. That is a lot about Jokic. The Nuggets have gotten somewhat lucky with opponent jump-shooting. Their model is an elite offense carrying a just-good-enough defense. They can win it all that way, but they may be more vulnerable than better defensive teams to the luck of matchups.

The Nuggets are more fundamentally sound on defense when they replace Porter with Bruce Brown alongside their other four starters; that is their closing lineup on lots of nights. But they are smaller, with less upside on offense.