2024 NBA Playoffs: West Semifinals: #2 Denver Nuggets vs #3 Minnesota Timberwolves (DEN leads 3-2)

[GeorgeSears]

Jaden McDaniels hounding Murray all game with an iffy calf does concern me. Even with a healthy calf, it's a tough matchup for Murray because of the size.

[Klomp]

Media is gonna all the over Minnesota on this one.

American Born (Anthony Edwards) vs America’s Most Hated (Nikola Jokic).

Games will be coming down to late game execution. Edwards did a great job in game 4, can he keep it up against a better cerebral team in Denver? We’ll see

Jokic haters are really going to come out of the woodwork if he loses to the worst franchise in professional sports history

[Jaqua92]

Denver is due for a good game. It wouldn't surprise me if they win game 1 by 25

[Jaqua92]

Interesting here. Last year's LA team got to the WCF and wins a ring if not for Denver. They were better this year.

LA was a top 5 team coming into the playoffs, and seem to be far closer to a second tier title contender than your standard 7 seed.

AND Denver played poorly. Denver probably had the toughest first round matchup.

Things that bode well for the Wolves is that they're hungry, they have an edge in the series in the regular system, and they have a proven defensive system that is great at slowing down Denver. Ant is a killer, and a certified bucket getter. They also look much better than Denver right now.

Things that bode well for Denver. They played horribly, and still outted probably the toughest opponent in the first round. Despite their difficulty shooting open shots, and Murray struggling, they've closed out every single clutch game. They're iron willed. I don't care how great the Timberwolves look. Denver will always have an advantage in tight games. MPJ is also sensational right now. They also have the highest ceiling offensively.


Outcome? Wolves in 6, or Denver in 7. This could go either way. If Denver gets out of this funk, they should take it. If they shoot well, AND play with intensity, they take it in 5.

The Wolves are great defensively, but on the offensive end, the Suns made them look a lot better than they were. They will have a tougher time scoring against a better defensive team like Denver.

If both defenses are able to drag down the offense, it should go to Denver.

Disagree here. I think your overating LA by a big margin. They just aren't very good.

What I meant is that they ended the season post All Star break on a top five run, I believe.

[DaFan334]

Jaden McDaniels hounding Murray all game with an iffy calf does concern me. Even with a healthy calf, it's a tough matchup for Murray because of the size.

Who would they have guarding MPJ if McDaniels is on Murray? I'm curious how that will work because if that's the matchup, MPJ is going to be able to get more than his fair share.

[GeorgeSears]

Jaden McDaniels hounding Murray all game with an iffy calf does concern me. Even with a healthy calf, it's a tough matchup for Murray because of the size.

Who would they have guarding MPJ if McDaniels is on Murray? I'm curious how that will work because if that's the matchup, MPJ is going to be able to get more than his fair share.

Ant.

Murray - McDaniels
KCP - Conley
MPJ - Ant
Jokic - KAT
AG - Gobert

[Klomp]

Jaden McDaniels hounding Murray all game with an iffy calf does concern me. Even with a healthy calf, it's a tough matchup for Murray because of the size.

Who would they have guarding MPJ if McDaniels is on Murray? I'm curious how that will work because if that's the matchup, MPJ is going to be able to get more than his fair share.

Mike Conley is very good at chasing guys around screens. He was Conley's man for most of the series last year. While Porter had some success, I'm not sure it was series-defining to where you would call the decision a failure.

But it does seem like for the regular season games, Ant was on Porter in these situations, with Conley on KCP.

[nbafan38]

Surprised how high everyone is on the wolves. Maybe it is their time to breakthrough but generally the team with championship experience, home court, and the best player in their prime finds a way to win these kinds of series.

[Special_Puppy]

Surprised how high everyone is on the wolves. Maybe it is their time to breakthrough but generally the team with championship experience, home court, and the best player in their prime finds a way to win these kinds of series.

First round series changed people's perceptions around the teams

[nbafan38]

Surprised how high everyone is on the wolves. Maybe it is their time to breakthrough but generally the team with championship experience, home court, and the best player in their prime finds a way to win these kinds of series.

First round series changed people's perceptions around the teams

Yea I get that sense. I just don't see it that way. The suns are really soft and the lakers play really hard. The only thing from the first round that would concern me at all for Denver is Murrays health but yesterday he looked fine.

[life_saver]

Surprised how high everyone is on the wolves. Maybe it is their time to breakthrough but generally the team with championship experience, home court, and the best player in their prime finds a way to win these kinds of series.

Based on odds, Denver seems to be healthy favorite

[MrSparkle]

Denver in 6.

[Bornstellar]

The Nuggets are going to come in much more focused against the Wolves and will show why they are the defending champs imo. They didn't respect the Lakers and knew they could flip the switch at any time versus them. They won't play with their food this time around

[AbeVigodaLive]

I think the biggest X factor for me is KAT. Will he step up and score, play defense or will he commit stupid fouls and dumb turnovers?

Towns has led the league in OFFENSIVE fouls multiple times. Those double as TOs.

Most of it is from him flailing and doing dumb stuff on his drives. Some of it is from a pretty tough whistle. I don't know if it's his awkwardness or that he's insufferable for officials... but he gets called for stuff regularly that other All Stars get away with regularly. The "best" part is that you can see it coming. Usually after he thinks he deserved a foul call... he'll get all bent out of shape and loses composure. That's when the charges, hooks, illegal picks and other fouls come out in force. You could make a drinking game out of it.

Don't bail out Towns by saying he gets a tough whistle. He's an all-time bad foul guy. He spams those dumb kicks on his 3's, he shoves, he hooks, he holds, etc. It's his issue. Hell, there was a game against Phoenix where they missed two obvious fouls on him that would've given him 4 or 5 (don't remember which), then he blatantly fouls the guy to get in foul trouble again anyway, and then whined about it. Even Ant called him out for it.

My point wasn't that Towns doesn't foul. Most are indeed fouls per the rulebook.

My point is that he gets called for those fouls more often than other guys of his AS stature. Every player gets away with fouling... and every player gets fouled sometimes and it's not called. Stars seem to get away with it more. Towns does not seem to be on that star level with officials.


[Note: Your post is implying that Towns got a favorable whistle vs. Phoenix. But with only vague references and a questionable memory. Meanwhile, others could point to an offensive foul vs. Durant and a defensive foul vs. Allen in the same game that sure seemed pretty questionable to people and announcers watching.]

[AbeVigodaLive]

Jaden McDaniels hounding Murray all game with an iffy calf does concern me. Even with a healthy calf, it's a tough matchup for Murray because of the size.

Who would they have guarding MPJ if McDaniels is on Murray? I'm curious how that will work because if that's the matchup, MPJ is going to be able to get more than his fair share.

Ant.

Murray - McDaniels
KCP - Conley
MPJ - Ant
Jokic - KAT
AG - Gobert

It matters who's guarding who... until it doesn't.

It's relatively easy to get a switch if a team wanted to get a switch. LeBron James' teams have been very adept at it for years.

[TimberKat]

Surprised how high everyone is on the wolves. Maybe it is their time to breakthrough but generally the team with championship experience, home court, and the best player in their prime finds a way to win these kinds of series.

First round series changed people's perceptions around the teams

Yea I get that sense. I just don't see it that way. The suns are really soft and the lakers play really hard. The only thing from the first round that would concern me at all for Denver is Murrays health but yesterday he looked fine.

How hard could it be when you have DLo and Reaves defending the backcourt? Porter JR got whatever shot he wanted. Wolves got 4 very capable defenders in JMcD, NAW, Ant, and Conley. Those easy shots are not going to be easy anymore.

[docholliday99]

Jaden McDaniels hounding Murray all game with an iffy calf does concern me. Even with a healthy calf, it's a tough matchup for Murray because of the size.

Who would they have guarding MPJ if McDaniels is on Murray? I'm curious how that will work because if that's the matchup, MPJ is going to be able to get more than his fair share.

Ant.

Murray - McDaniels
KCP - Conley
MPJ - Ant
Jokic - KAT
AG - Gobert

Certainly the same as last year and that matchup allows Minny to have Gobert camp closer to the basket - and they've had more time to gel since getting eliminated in 5 (though I don't see that this year). AG gets a lot of motion going on offense though it might make sense to have AG as the 6th man, move MPJ to the 4 and insert another shooter like Braun. Not like the bench isn't rested lol, I think it would be a mistake if Malone plays his starters heavy like he did against the Lakers. This series is where the Nuggets are really going to miss Brown and Green off the bench.

Minny's depth should be a concern for the Nuggets. Denver needs a Naz off the bench, or even an Oly type player.

[Woodsanity]

Gonna be a tough series. T-Wolves are more talented on paper.

[ShootersShoot]

Jaden McDaniels hounding Murray all game with an iffy calf does concern me. Even with a healthy calf, it's a tough matchup for Murray because of the size.

Who would they have guarding MPJ if McDaniels is on Murray? I'm curious how that will work because if that's the matchup, MPJ is going to be able to get more than his fair share.

Ant.

Murray - McDaniels
KCP - Conley
MPJ - Ant
Jokic - KAT
AG - Gobert

Ant on MPJ seems like a mismatch in favor of the nugs. Ant's not going to be able to block him off the boards or contest the jumper.

[BrooklynDynasty]

this board will be shocked how easily the Wolves win this one, and how the Nuggets look amateur against a supremely well executed physical defense