On the heels of diving deep into the Zion Williamson controversy and presidng over Game 3 of the NBA Finals last night, Stephen A. Smith continued to work very hard without pause by showing up to drive First Take. He, Molly Qerim, JJ Redick and Jay Williams were discussing Nikola Jokic, who is staking his claim to the 30-20-10 masterpiece.
"Jokic isn't known for having some kind of dominant post game," Smith offered. "It's not his game."
Then, hearing some pushback from pushback enthusiast Redick, phrased it more as a question. "Is he a dominant post player? Is Jokic a dominant post player?"
As it turns out, Jokic is such a player. And Redick had a handy stat to prove it. Apparently the nerds have sorted it all out and can tell us that the most efficient halfcourt play in all of basketball over the past decade is the Nuggets big man posting up.
This real-time fact-check delighted Williams to no end. Look at his face throughout this clip. He's like a kid in a candy store, saying "boom" and dropping every writing implement within reach.
Smith then changed tact, saying Jokic reminds him more of a Kevin McHale than a Shaquille O'Neal, which is perfectly reasonable, before eventually conceding the point as the show went to commercial.
You can learn a lot from these shows. And it will probably be a long, long time before Smith shares another opinion on anyth——
This article was originally published on thebiglead as Ladies and Gentlemen, We Got Him (Stephen A. Smith).
