2024 NBA Playoffs: West Semifinals: #2 Denver Nuggets vs #3 Minnesota Timberwolves (MIN WINS 4-3)

[nomansland]

Should we make a Denver vs Celtics Final series thread?

People need a space.

Yeah I think a lot of these conversations are wayyyy premature.

[CoP]

Wolves were able to limit Jokic the best when it wasn't Gobert on him. Gobert is DPOY for his free-range rim protection, not for his ability to defend in space. Wolves have to figure out a way to have KAT defend Jokic more often rather than him just standing in the weakside corner.

They also need to force Jokic to defend on more possessions, in the hope that it might tire him out and maybe get him a little frustrated if he gets into foul trouble.

All that said, there's no guarantee any of that will work. You just do what might work best against the best player in the league.

[MarcusBrody]

Wolves were able to limit Jokic the best when it wasn't Gobert on him. Gobert is DPOY for his free-range rim protection, not for his ability to defend in space. Wolves have to figure out a way to have KAT defend Jokic more often rather than him just standing in the weakside corner.

They also need to force Jokic to defend on more possessions, in the hope that it might tire him out and maybe get him a little frustrated if he gets into foul trouble.

All that said, there's no guarantee any of that will work. You just do what might work best against the best player in the league.

Jokic defended a whole bunch of possessions last game. He was often the player coming out to the perimeter, hedging and holding Ant in space, then applying the double while they let Rudy roll and then brought a weakside defender to cover him when he got deep. I actually thought Jokic's ability to keep Ant contained as he came around the initial screen and then have his hands digging/waving to make both dribbling and passing out of the double were one of the keys for Denver's defensive success.

[Mrakar]

Wolves were able to limit Jokic the best when it wasn't Gobert on him. Gobert is DPOY for his free-range rim protection, not for his ability to defend in space. Wolves have to figure out a way to have KAT defend Jokic more often rather than him just standing in the weakside corner.

They also need to force Jokic to defend on more possessions, in the hope that it might tire him out and maybe get him a little frustrated if he gets into foul trouble.

All that said, there's no guarantee any of that will work. You just do what might work best against the best player in the league.

Wolves already did all of that, but the Nuggets countered. Wolves had Gobert roaming around, and Nuggets forced him into plays by making Gordon a playmaker. If they switch Jokic has Gobert on him and its BBQ chicken...
KAT has done a good job on Jokic except that he is fouling for no reason and then has to go out of the game.

[MarcusBrody]

I think the biggest, not widely discussed moment of the game last night was the charge that Gordon took on Naz at the beginning of the second quarter. Jokic was resting and the Wolves had taken the lead. Gordon had two fouls already and he's basically the Nuggets only credible back up center at the moment. Getting that charge rather than arriving a bit late or moving a bit more was huge, though I don't really blame Reid as it was somewhat tight. The subsequent two Wolves charges should have been avoided.

As the announcers pointed out, Michael Malone had just picked up a tech for going off when Rudy cleared out (KCP?) to score. Given the Nuggets got three straight offensive fouls in their favor, I'm giving him credit for that lobbying effort.

[Triple7]

they don't....who's going to stop Jokic on their team

Lol tf you guys are talking about. They barely beat the Lakers. They are just in a groove right now. Both times we played, the games went to the last minute, with Tatum shooting poorly. I admit, the Nuggets would be favored, and would be hard to beat, but we just need to shoot lights out for 4 games. Its not like the nuggets are that great defensively.

The nuggets are a top 10 defensive team. And when they barely beat LA this season in the playoffs, they shot like 30% from three for the series and Murray was still injured.

The second game the Celtics played against them had Denver shooting like 20% from 3. The first game everyone in Denver shot like crap outside of Murray and Jokic. I remember, I was there.

I don't know if the Celtics don't stand a chance, but I think it's extremely likely that the Timberwolves failing to capitalize on their 2-0 series lead cost the Celtics the championship.

Lol no! Nuggets getting hyped too much. They shot poorly from 3, because they are not a good 3pts shooting team, and they don’t shoot a lot. Also murray wasn’t injured to start the series, and they were down in the 1st half in games 1 and 2. If the lakers weren’t stupid, they could easily have pushed that series to 7. I still think the nuggets are the team to beat, but they can be beaten.

[CoP]

Wolves were able to limit Jokic the best when it wasn't Gobert on him. Gobert is DPOY for his free-range rim protection, not for his ability to defend in space. Wolves have to figure out a way to have KAT defend Jokic more often rather than him just standing in the weakside corner.

They also need to force Jokic to defend on more possessions, in the hope that it might tire him out and maybe get him a little frustrated if he gets into foul trouble.

All that said, there's no guarantee any of that will work. You just do what might work best against the best player in the league.

Wolves already did all of that, but the Nuggets countered. Wolves had Gobert roaming around, and Nuggets forced him into plays by making Gordon a playmaker. If they switch Jokic has Gobert on him and its BBQ chicken...
KAT has done a good job on Jokic except that he is fouling for no reason and then has to go out of the game.

Yeah, a lot of it is on KAT to be able to defend without fouling. Agree with that. Denver is well-coached and there are always going to be counters back and forth. Wolves are one of the best defensive teams in the league. They should be able to see when Nuggets are trying to force Gobert to the perimeter with screens and then pre-switch before they can.

[thinktank]

Regular season is irrelevant. Wolves looked like the better team than Denver in the regular season during all of their matchups.

Celtics are being disrespected. They were historically good, and if OKC, Mavs, OR Minnesota came out of the West, Celtics win handily. We've seen Minnesota struggle against a more competent defense now.

Boston has the #2 defense in the NBA. Minnesota will struggle. Boston has 4 different guys who they can throw at Ant.

Boston wins in 5, or 6. Stop disrespecting them just because they're Boston.


They lose to Denver in the finals in 6 though. Timberwolves blew the Celtic's chances this year.

You want it both ways.

“RS doesn’t matter. Boston was historically good.”

Make up your mind.

If this Boston core wins a chip, THEN you can start the chip guarantees. Not before.

You can’t guarantee something you’ve never done.

Regular season matchups don't matter..but the entirety of the season, especially a historical one, is indicative of a legit championship squad.

I also said I think they lose to Senver.

The fact that they didn’t do that is illustrative.

[thinktank]

Jesus Christ. There's not some conspiracy against the Wolves here.

The media was extremely quick to annoint Ant would so clearly rather see them in the finals. Hell, even the Minnesota board was talking about this. But as soon as Denver turned it around, the narrative changed. Games 1-2, you guys were world beaters, no one in the league can hang unless the league interferes. Now, trailing, it's rigged against you?

Man, get real. Denver is a better team.

I never said Denver wasn’t the better team. I said the NBA wants 7 games. I ask for better reading comprehension. Thanks.

Sure, the NBA wants 7 games. But I don't buy into the conspiracy theory stuff. They probably wanted the Phoenix series to go 7 as well.

I think, in general, they want longer series.

[Wigginstime]

Lol tf you guys are talking about. They barely beat the Lakers. They are just in a groove right now. Both times we played, the games went to the last minute, with Tatum shooting poorly. I admit, the Nuggets would be favored, and would be hard to beat, but we just need to shoot lights out for 4 games. Its not like the nuggets are that great defensively.

The nuggets are a top 10 defensive team. And when they barely beat LA this season in the playoffs, they shot like 30% from three for the series and Murray was still injured.

The second game the Celtics played against them had Denver shooting like 20% from 3. The first game everyone in Denver shot like crap outside of Murray and Jokic. I remember, I was there.

I don't know if the Celtics don't stand a chance, but I think it's extremely likely that the Timberwolves failing to capitalize on their 2-0 series lead cost the Celtics the championship.

Lol no! Nuggets getting hyped too much. They shot poorly from 3, because they are not a good 3pts shooting team, and they don’t shoot a lot. Also murray wasn’t injured to start the series, and they were down in the 1st half in games 1 and 2. If the lakers weren’t stupid, they could easily have pushed that series to 7. I still think the nuggets are the team to beat, but they can be beaten.

This is wrong - Murray injured his calf in game 4 of the Lakers series. The medical staff wanted to hold him out of game 5. One of the reasons the 5 day break between games 2 and 3 of the wolves/nuggets series was so beneficial to Denver was that it gave the Denver medical team time to work with Murray on his calf injury.

[Triple7]

The nuggets are a top 10 defensive team. And when they barely beat LA this season in the playoffs, they shot like 30% from three for the series and Murray was still injured.

The second game the Celtics played against them had Denver shooting like 20% from 3. The first game everyone in Denver shot like crap outside of Murray and Jokic. I remember, I was there.

I don't know if the Celtics don't stand a chance, but I think it's extremely likely that the Timberwolves failing to capitalize on their 2-0 series lead cost the Celtics the championship.

Lol no! Nuggets getting hyped too much. They shot poorly from 3, because they are not a good 3pts shooting team, and they don’t shoot a lot. Also murray wasn’t injured to start the series, and they were down in the 1st half in games 1 and 2. If the lakers weren’t stupid, they could easily have pushed that series to 7. I still think the nuggets are the team to beat, but they can be beaten.

This is wrong - Murray injured his calf in game 4 of the Lakers series. The medical staff wanted to hold him out of game 5. One of the reasons the 5 day break between games 2 and 3 of the wolves/nuggets series was so beneficial to Denver was that it gave the Denver medical team time to work with Murray on his calf injury.

Lol. Did you even read my post? Hahaha replying to a poster without understanding the whole thing.
I said, Murray wasn’t injured to start the series with the LAKERS. not wolves lol.

[Ambrose]

Wolves were able to limit Jokic the best when it wasn't Gobert on him. Gobert is DPOY for his free-range rim protection, not for his ability to defend in space. Wolves have to figure out a way to have KAT defend Jokic more often rather than him just standing in the weakside corner.

They also need to force Jokic to defend on more possessions, in the hope that it might tire him out and maybe get him a little frustrated if he gets into foul trouble.

All that said, there's no guarantee any of that will work. You just do what might work best against the best player in the league.

Minnesota has been doing this a ton each of the last three games.

[ArksNetsSince99]

they don't....who's going to stop Jokic on their team

Al Horford

Oh please.

CodeBreaker forgot green font , don’t blame him , he is Miami Heat fan so I don’t think so he values old Al that much

[ArksNetsSince99]

Lol tf you guys are talking about. They barely beat the Lakers. They are just in a groove right now. Both times we played, the games went to the last minute, with Tatum shooting poorly. I admit, the Nuggets would be favored, and would be hard to beat, but we just need to shoot lights out for 4 games. Its not like the nuggets are that great defensively.

The nuggets are a top 10 defensive team. And when they barely beat LA this season in the playoffs, they shot like 30% from three for the series and Murray was still injured.

The second game the Celtics played against them had Denver shooting like 20% from 3. The first game everyone in Denver shot like crap outside of Murray and Jokic. I remember, I was there.

I don't know if the Celtics don't stand a chance, but I think it's extremely likely that the Timberwolves failing to capitalize on their 2-0 series lead cost the Celtics the championship.

Lol no! Nuggets getting hyped too much. They shot poorly from 3, because they are not a good 3pts shooting team, and they don’t shoot a lot. Also murray wasn’t injured to start the series, and they were down in the 1st half in games 1 and 2. If the lakers weren’t stupid, they could easily have pushed that series to 7. I still think the nuggets are the team to beat, but they can be beaten.

Ohhh Lord , Lakers could’ve easily push this series to 7 but instead they decided to get swept ???


Jesus this is another level post , almost like playing basketball on asphalt so people can bring their pets to the game

[Laimbeer]

Read on Twitter

[Beethoven]

Cmon Ant let's get this game 6

[bisme37]

I just watched some of the TNT postgame from last night. Gotta love them discussing how Jokic "took the matchup personally and wanted to make a point" against Gobert and the Wolves with no realization or admission of how much crap the TNT guys themselves were talking just a few days ago. Chuck declared the series over, Shaq straight up told Jokic he shouldn't have won MVP, etc. If Jokic was proving a point to someone it was you idiots lol.

P.S. congrats on the win Nuggets fans! I don't think I said anything last night but that was an awesome performance.

[gobeklitepe]

Lol tf you guys are talking about. They barely beat the Lakers. They are just in a groove right now. Both times we played, the games went to the last minute, with Tatum shooting poorly. I admit, the Nuggets would be favored, and would be hard to beat, but we just need to shoot lights out for 4 games. Its not like the nuggets are that great defensively.

The nuggets are a top 10 defensive team. And when they barely beat LA this season in the playoffs, they shot like 30% from three for the series and Murray was still injured.

The second game the Celtics played against them had Denver shooting like 20% from 3. The first game everyone in Denver shot like crap outside of Murray and Jokic. I remember, I was there.

I don't know if the Celtics don't stand a chance, but I think it's extremely likely that the Timberwolves failing to capitalize on their 2-0 series lead cost the Celtics the championship.

Lol no! Nuggets getting hyped too much. They shot poorly from 3, because they are not a good 3pts shooting team, and they don’t shoot a lot. Also murray wasn’t injured to start the series, and they were down in the 1st half in games 1 and 2. If the lakers weren’t stupid, they could easily have pushed that series to 7. I still think the nuggets are the team to beat, but they can be beaten.

I think its important for people to remember (or that don't know) that Calvin Booth explicitly said this past off-season that their goal was not to turn around and build a team to repeat, but instead to give exposure to the younger guys on the team to possibly get 3 out of 5 chips going forward. So their performance this post season is really a bonus, because it was not the immediate objective.

[CoP]

Wolves were able to limit Jokic the best when it wasn't Gobert on him. Gobert is DPOY for his free-range rim protection, not for his ability to defend in space. Wolves have to figure out a way to have KAT defend Jokic more often rather than him just standing in the weakside corner.

They also need to force Jokic to defend on more possessions, in the hope that it might tire him out and maybe get him a little frustrated if he gets into foul trouble.

All that said, there's no guarantee any of that will work. You just do what might work best against the best player in the league.

Minnesota has been doing this a ton each of the last three games.

OK, but it hasn't been enough. The last two games, Jokic has been matched up on defense with Gobert for 44 minutes and then 41 minutes. That's way too much against a limited offensive player.

The Wolves need to do more to get him matched up against Ant. Or if it's going to be a big, then maybe Reid, because Reid will be the most physical with him. Heck, even KAT will post him up and make him work more than Gobert, who is primarily a screen and roll guy but in the playoffs is just primarily a screener.

[Ambrose]

Wolves were able to limit Jokic the best when it wasn't Gobert on him. Gobert is DPOY for his free-range rim protection, not for his ability to defend in space. Wolves have to figure out a way to have KAT defend Jokic more often rather than him just standing in the weakside corner.

They also need to force Jokic to defend on more possessions, in the hope that it might tire him out and maybe get him a little frustrated if he gets into foul trouble.

All that said, there's no guarantee any of that will work. You just do what might work best against the best player in the league.

Minnesota has been doing this a ton each of the last three games.

OK, but it hasn't been enough. The last two games, Jokic has been matched up on defense with Gobert for 44 minutes and then 41 minutes. That's way too much against a limited offensive player.

The Wolves need to do more to get him matched up against Ant. Or if it's going to be a big, then maybe Reid, because Reid will be the most physical with him. Heck, even KAT will post him up and make him work more than Gobert, who is primarily a screen and roll guy but in the playoffs is just primarily a screener.

They put him in every PNR action with Edwards. What you're suggesting is what they've been doing constantly the last three games.