WATCH: Isaiah Roby Overpowers Reigning MVP Nikola Jokic
Isaiah Roby has gotten inconsistent minutes throughout the season. He even played with the Oklahoma City Blue, Oklahoma’s G-League team, to get more time.
Being a prime example of the Thunder’s next man up mentality, Roby has flourished with more consistent minutes.
In Oklahoma City’s most recent matchup against Denver, Roby was given the challenge of guarding reigning MVP Nikola Jokic.
Jokic was visibly uncomfortable defending on the perimeter and spaced closer to the paint. Roby took advantage of the extra gap by shooting four-of-five from behind the arc.
“I think everyday I’m just trying to find a better way of exploiting my advantages,” Roby said. “Jokic has a lot more size than me but I’m able to attack him in different ways and on different parts of the floor.”
Remaining assertive in the offense, Roby scored a career high of 26 points following only Shai Gilgeous-Alexander who finished with 29 points.
Roby’s aggressiveness did not stop on the offensive end. Defensively, Roby blocked two of Jokic’s shots despite being undersized. He also forced two steals and was active on the boards by grabbing seven rebounds.
Holding Jokic to zero-of-four from deep, it is clear that Roby won the battle of the bigs.
When given the opportunity to be the “next man up” Roby indeed makes the most of it.
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