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

[durden_tyler]

Nuggets -5.5 in Game 2.

As defending champs, i doubt they allow themselves to fall in a 0-2 hole in this series, especially as the next two games are in Minnesota.

i expect a blowout win or at least a double digit win for Denver with the Wolves rather refocusing their energy for the suceeding games especially if they fall behind a big lead early in Game 2.

In the rare chance that Anthony Edwards explodes again and lead his team to yet another road win, we can crown him next Michael indeed (and good for my series bet).


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[LaLover11]

Jokic better focus on scoring this next game
Take away some of Murrays shots and spread those extra FGA to Porter JR/KCP

[stoo]

can't wait to see the adjustments tonight

[Johnny Firpo]

Ant is great but let's not forget about Luka/Shai and mostly Wemby before saying that he's the next face of the league. Likely the best american player though.

He's flat out been better than them all so far. This is the biggest stage and the most important time of the year, and Ant has delivered everything and more.

He is certainly playing better, but it's only been 6 games.

[Jta444]

Wait so lemme get this straight last year Lebron WITH AD got swept vs these Nuggets and 21 year old Ant got 1 game.

Then this year Lebron WITH AD only got 1 (which looked like Nuggets gave it to him out of pity) while Antman already won game #1 on the Nuggets home floor which Lebron WITH AD has never been able to do??

And this is 22 year old Ant we’re talking about here. Eye test tells me Jordan is at least 2x the player Ant is. I don’t ever wanna hear about no Jordan-Lebron comps ever again. Basically a shorter poor man version of Jordan beating Jokic while Lebron with prime 30/15 AD cant even get one vs Joker. What a joke

[lambchop]

Wait so lemme get this straight last year Lebron WITH AD got swept vs these Nuggets and 21 year old Ant got 1 game.

Then this year Lebron WITH AD only got 1 (which looked like Nuggets gave it to him out of pity) while Antman already won game #1 on the Nuggets home floor which Lebron WITH AD has never been able to do??

And this is 22 year old Ant we’re talking about here. Eye test tells me Jordan is at least 2x the player Ant is. I don’t ever wanna hear about no Jordan-Lebron comps ever again. Basically a shorter poor man version of Jordan beating Jokic while Lebron with prime 30/15 AD cant even get one vs Joker. What a joke

Comparing LBJ at this age to Jordan or even Ant is asinine. Those dudes SHOULD be beating lebron at this stage of his career. What he's doing now isn't adding anything to his legacy, apart from raw stats. He's lucky enough to be healthy and still athletic enough to play in the NBA. But acting like this is prime lebron, just because his numbers are essentially still as good as other players' primes, is really just foolery.

It's literally just the 2014 crowd that predicted his decline was imminent, but they were slightly off (by about 7 years), who are now coming with the "see I told you he isn't that good" garbage.

Anyway, I'm loving seeing how a player who has more of that Jordan/Kobe/Tmac etc. build is still able to be a huge factor in this era, despite not posting overall gaudy stats, like the Jokic, Doncic etc. types. Awesome seeing these two clash in this series.

[Primedeion]

Wait so lemme get this straight last year Lebron WITH AD got swept vs these Nuggets and 21 year old Ant got 1 game.

Then this year Lebron WITH AD only got 1 (which looked like Nuggets gave it to him out of pity) while Antman already won game #1 on the Nuggets home floor which Lebron WITH AD has never been able to do??

And this is 22 year old Ant we’re talking about here. Eye test tells me Jordan is at least 2x the player Ant is. I don’t ever wanna hear about no Jordan-Lebron comps ever again. Basically a shorter poor man version of Jordan beating Jokic while Lebron with prime 30/15 AD cant even get one vs Joker. What a joke

Some incredible logic being used right here.

[dolphinatik]

Wait so lemme get this straight last year Lebron WITH AD got swept vs these Nuggets and 21 year old Ant got 1 game.

Then this year Lebron WITH AD only got 1 (which looked like Nuggets gave it to him out of pity) while Antman already won game #1 on the Nuggets home floor which Lebron WITH AD has never been able to do??

And this is 22 year old Ant we’re talking about here. Eye test tells me Jordan is at least 2x the player Ant is. I don’t ever wanna hear about no Jordan-Lebron comps ever again. Basically a shorter poor man version of Jordan beating Jokic while Lebron with prime 30/15 AD cant even get one vs Joker. What a joke

And like Jordans teams Minny is well constructed and balanced. Lets not ignore they have the defensive player of the year, 6th man of the year, probably best young star, a solid vet guard in Conley, 2 solid bigs to throw at Joker and a solid 3-d in McDaniels. If only Ant had a Pippen. LBJ isnt in his prime we really trying to compare now?

[Jta444]

Wait so lemme get this straight last year Lebron WITH AD got swept vs these Nuggets and 21 year old Ant got 1 game.

Then this year Lebron WITH AD only got 1 (which looked like Nuggets gave it to him out of pity) while Antman already won game #1 on the Nuggets home floor which Lebron WITH AD has never been able to do??

And this is 22 year old Ant we’re talking about here. Eye test tells me Jordan is at least 2x the player Ant is. I don’t ever wanna hear about no Jordan-Lebron comps ever again. Basically a shorter poor man version of Jordan beating Jokic while Lebron with prime 30/15 AD cant even get one vs Joker. What a joke

Comparing LBJ at this age to Jordan or even Ant is asinine. Those dudes SHOULD be beating lebron at this stage of his career. What he's doing now isn't adding anything to his legacy, apart from raw stats. He's lucky enough to be healthy and still athletic enough to play in the NBA. But acting like this is prime lebron, just because his numbers are essentially still as good as other players' primes, is really just foolery.

It's literally just the 2014 crowd that predicted his decline was imminent, but they were slightly off (by about 7 years), who are now coming with the "see I told you he isn't that good" garbage.

Anyway, I'm loving seeing how a player who has more of that Jordan/Kobe/Tmac etc. build is still able to be a huge factor in this era, despite not posting overall gaudy stats, like the Jokic, Doncic etc. types. Awesome seeing these two clash in this series.

But 2014 Lebron was all athleticism and a bit of shooting without the IQ and strength of today. Ant better than even 2014 Lebron who can only bully his way to the basket which can be negated by interior rin protectors like Spurs before. Ant reminds me of Kawhi who can get to his spots and shoot high percentage midrange which cant be game-planned. Something 2014 Lebron cant do he was just afraid of the moment. Ant is the real heir to the throne to Jordan just a different mentality.

[lambchop]

Wait so lemme get this straight last year Lebron WITH AD got swept vs these Nuggets and 21 year old Ant got 1 game.

Then this year Lebron WITH AD only got 1 (which looked like Nuggets gave it to him out of pity) while Antman already won game #1 on the Nuggets home floor which Lebron WITH AD has never been able to do??

And this is 22 year old Ant we’re talking about here. Eye test tells me Jordan is at least 2x the player Ant is. I don’t ever wanna hear about no Jordan-Lebron comps ever again. Basically a shorter poor man version of Jordan beating Jokic while Lebron with prime 30/15 AD cant even get one vs Joker. What a joke

Comparing LBJ at this age to Jordan or even Ant is asinine. Those dudes SHOULD be beating lebron at this stage of his career. What he's doing now isn't adding anything to his legacy, apart from raw stats. He's lucky enough to be healthy and still athletic enough to play in the NBA. But acting like this is prime lebron, just because his numbers are essentially still as good as other players' primes, is really just foolery.

It's literally just the 2014 crowd that predicted his decline was imminent, but they were slightly off (by about 7 years), who are now coming with the "see I told you he isn't that good" garbage.

Anyway, I'm loving seeing how a player who has more of that Jordan/Kobe/Tmac etc. build is still able to be a huge factor in this era, despite not posting overall gaudy stats, like the Jokic, Doncic etc. types. Awesome seeing these two clash in this series.

But 2014 Lebron was all athleticism and a bit of shooting without the IQ and strength of today. Ant better than even 2014 Lebron who can only bully his way to the basket which can be negated by interior rin protectors like Spurs before. Ant reminds me of Kawhi who can get to his spots and shoot high percentage midrange which cant be game-planned. Something 2014 Lebron cant do he was just afraid of the moment. Ant is the real heir to the throne to Jordan just a different mentality.

Ant will need to display year round dominance to be considered the true heir, otherwise he'll draw those Kawhi comparisons, essentially a player who turns it up in the playoffs and whose scoring is extremely valuable. But if he truly wants to enter the Jordan-Kareem-LBJ etc. tier, he'll need MVP seasons with FMVPs, all defensive teams, DPOY consideration etc.

It's a tall task, but the potential is obviously there.

[donkki]

This series will get super interesting once Minnesota takes a 2-0 series lead going back to Minnesota. I have no doubt they can do it!

[lambchop]

Sorry if someone already posted this earlier. Excellent breakdown as usual by Thinking Basketball. Denver's solution might actually be to bench Gordon to avoid that roaming defense. I'm not sure how having him on the bench would impact their overall performance, but it seems as though it would provide cleaner looks and a smoother flow on offense.

Watch on YouTube

[Special_Puppy]

Must win game for Denver tonight. Going down 0-2 heading into Minnesota would be absolutely brutal

[benhillboy]

I’m a pretty big Bruce Brown fan. I thought not resigning him would bite them in the arse this season. I thought for sure the Nuggets brass knew they don’t win a title without him last season.

I like Braun, always hated Reggie Jackson, and come on with Justin Holliday. That bench just isn’t equipped. KCP + Bruce guarding Ant is infinitely better than just KCP taking the assignment. Sure Gordon is an excellent help man but you need as many sound individual defensive bodies as possible to face Ant right now and the Nuggets simply don’t have it.

Are you not aware that the Nuggets would if they could? They don't have his bird rights and Bruce Brown isn't a martyr who will take a huge paycut to remain in Denver. Role players should take the biggest contract possible once they hit free agency every single time and I remember it correctly, Denver also can't trade any first round pick until 2030 to improve their roster.

No I was not aware, I’m admittedly an ignoramus as it pertains to NBA contractual & payroll matters. Thanks for clarifying. Still sucks Bruce isn’t there for whatever reason. His playoff metrics were excellent considering he didn’t get the boost from playing with Jokic as much as the starters.

[AleksandarN]

Denver is actually being tested here, something that never happened in last year's playoffs. This series may prove them to be frauds after all but we'll have to wait and see

It’s not like Nuggets came back from 3 1 twice in the playoffs. Oh wait they did. They are one of the most mentally tough teams out there.

Huge difference between the bubble and the real playoffs

They still had the mental fortitude to comeback and win the series bubble or not.

[BlacJacMac]

Can you elaborate how? What resources are you referring to!'They are over the salary cap and they can't trade their 1st round draft pick until 2030. Who do you think they should trade or which minimum salary players they could sign to help their team?

For who Denver used all of their first round picks for the next 7 years?

should just be 2025 and 2027 going out to Orlando/OKC but can't trade 2029 because of protections
plenty of pick swaps to trade tho

How valuable are pick swaps when you project to be a Top 5 team for the foreseeable future?

[mademan]

Sorry if someone already posted this earlier. Excellent breakdown as usual by Thinking Basketball. Denver's solution might actually be to bench Gordon to avoid that roaming defense. I'm not sure how having him on the bench would impact their overall performance, but it seems as though it would provide cleaner looks and a smoother flow on offense.

Watch on YouTube

They dont have the bench depth to sit one of their best players. Who they gonna replace him? Braun and Watson's shots are not respected either and starting Justin Holiday makes them a pretty undersized team. Leaving Jokic as the only detterent at the rim will likely get him into foul trouble

Dunno what happened with Gordon. He was never a great shooter but he was a guy who was putting up 4-5 3pa per game at reasonable %'s. It at least used to keep the defense honest

[Mrakar]

Sorry if someone already posted this earlier. Excellent breakdown as usual by Thinking Basketball. Denver's solution might actually be to bench Gordon to avoid that roaming defense. I'm not sure how having him on the bench would impact their overall performance, but it seems as though it would provide cleaner looks and a smoother flow on offense.

Watch on YouTube

That would be solution if Nuggets had someone good on the bench, but they dont...
They cant go to small they will get destroyed on the boards.

Last year and this year in 1st round Jokic and Gordon could pick up a lot offensive rebounds, but not against Minny. Jokic is often picking his own misses and puting them back in, and that is not possible against Minnesota and i think that is a big thing no one is talking about. Defensive rebounding is one of the most important parts of defense and it is often overlooked.
Not having any way to get easy buckets is hard for Denver. If they want chance to win this they will need to bring their A++ game on both sides of the floor.
Gordon 3 rebounds, Jokic 8, that is not going to cut it.

[Jadoogar]

Jokic better focus on scoring this next game
Take away some of Murrays shots and spread those extra FGA to Porter JR/KCP

i don't think it's as easy as "focus on scoring". He isn't playing against Rui Hachimura anymore. Wolves are an elite defensive team. Not saying Jokic can't play better (he was really bad in G1) but this is a very different animal than the Lakers. They need to do a better job on Edwards obviously and hope the role players (bench + KCP) make their open shots.

[BrianInPhilly]

I feel good about Minny in this one, think they’ll cover the line. All pressure is on Denver, that could make T’wolves role guys play even better. Less nerves than game 1.

As an old school Mavs fan I think back to the 2nd round 2011. Lakers defending champs, but Mavs took 1st 2 games in LA. Actually played better in game 2 than Game 1. Ninny just has looked better all playoffs in my opinion. Can easily take game 2 too.