This video is cool because, out of Jusuf Nurkic’s four blocks, ALL FOUR of them were legit. NBA scorekeepers are notorious for handing out blocks that meet nobody’s definition of a block, but the shots that Nurkic swatted last night would meet anybody’s definition of a block. There’s nothing worse than going into a highlight video expecting major-league swattage only to get a deflected pass, a fingertip on a ball, and two instances of the offensive player losing the ball on the way up with it. You can tell that previous experiences with blocked shots have left me traumatized and distrustful.
It’s a good thing the blocks in this video are cool because there’s not much else that’s especially cool about it. Nurkic has some dunks and a jumpshot, but mostly he’s just using his immense size to get easy layups (“lame-ups”). He also shoots a lot of free-throws because Taj Gibson is just way too small to be able to receive Nurkic’s girth. Those are all things that are expected in a Jusuf Nurkic higlhight video, but they occur in such quantities here that I only feel fatigue after witnessing it.