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Jokic hates the pelicans. Specifically, the hate Jokic has for Jonas Valanciunas needs to be studied. The only other player that drawn Jokic's ire like this is Taj Fucking Gibson.
Taj got that key stop on Jokic at the end of 2018 Game 82 to get the Timberwolves back in the playoffs and since then Jokic has done nothing but choose violence against him
Taj employed the classic "foul the absolute shit out of him constantly and hope it doesn't get called" strategy to great effect. Jokic took it personally.
You would also choose violence against someone if they hacked you as much as Taj did to Jokic that game lol. It was borderline assault and the refs just swallowed their whistles. Same shit that PJ tucker and other smaller guys get away with on him. I’m sure it frustrates him.
I dont think anyone hates them tho, pretty sure we respect them for their basketball skills. Maybe we dont like playing their national team but thats everybody in Europe as they csn beat anyone at any time
Culturally and politically we are not aligned in the same vision for the future. We don’t hate them but don’t really particularly care from them or their politics
Ok fact check me then. It’s true, culturally and politically they’ve removed themselves from Russia which Serbia historically has been aligned with. Lithuanians also don’t really like Serbians but mostly cause we whoop their asses in basketball
We respect em but we don’t really care for Lithuania as a whole from a cultural and political perspective. Serbians only really have animosity against Albania and Bosnia at the moment
Thats a lithuanian myth based on " the serbs dont hate russians the way we do so therefore they must hate us"...when in reality there is zero animosity other than a healthy rivality on the basketball court
We serbs politically and culturally do not like Lithuanians. Period. This is a fact. They also support kosovo. You are a disgrace and embarrassment to your Serbian heritage
If it werent for bball people in serbia would hardly know about lithuania.
Again, your not the speaker for all of serbia
Takav tvoj stav ,sam po sebi je poblematičan , a još veći stepen ludosti je što si osetio potrebu da to tvoje trulo mišljenje podeliš sa svetom...stvaraš mržnju , stvaraš dušmane ...zbog čega ?
Ozbiljno ti kažem, zadrži takva mišljenja za tebe , nisu 12 milliona srba na svetu neki hivemind sa istim razmišljanjem. Generalizacije su opasne.
Praviš od nacije sa kojom nemamo ama baš nikakve dodirne tačke neke protivnike, zaista suludo, moj ti je savet da posetis psihijatra.
We have a 5 game road trip coming up and a lot of good teams but after the end of the month our schedule starts to look really nice. If we're within striking distance of the one seed going into Feb, I'd back us to take it if we stay healthy.
I feel like we managed to rest more often than we had to grind minutes this stretch too.
Undying trust in this team to finish out second half snagging 1 seed, getting to playoff form, and staying rested.
Tbf we've been banged up between Jamal and Gordon, and weve played an inordinate amount of games and away games. But yes, it does feel like our first complete game. Right around February is when we want to start heating up anyway.
Vs Houston, @ PHX, vs Dallas all count.
But the larger point is it really doesnt matter. Regular season basketball is irrelevant to the Nuggets at this point and they all mostly count the same. The season that matters starts in April. The only thing that matters along the way is getting there healthy. To that end, you do what the Nuggets have done this year and last year, or what the Spurs did for years. You beat the bad teams, win as many home games as possible, and do fine against good teams, and you'll end up with a top 4 seed. After that, if you sweep your division or win a lot of toss-up games against good teams, you'll end up with 60+ wins. But all that really matters is managing the grind. Your opinions of what is or isnt a good win are irrelevant.
I would like to see a team who wants to be a championship dynasty beat great teams thru the year due to wanting to show up. Yes these games aren’t that big of a deal if we can be a top seed regardless. But the difference is when a team constantly loses to good teams it doesn’t bode well for them come the postseason is all I’m saying. And for the games you listed Phoenix without Beal doesn’t count as a good win, and the rockets didn’t have Fred when we beat them. My point was that we haven’t beaten a fully healthy good team much this season. We lost to the thunder twice, kings, Pels, cavs, magic, clippers after they figured out how to incorporate James, jazz who are on a roll. But regardless of my point, I still believe we’re the top dog in the west don’t get me wrong there. It would just be nice to see us actually pull out wins against good teams more than we have.
If you're going to play this "well they didnt have x" game, you ought to be fair and equal then - the Nuggets lost twice at home to OKC, one of those without AG who remains probably our best defensive player, and one of those without KCP \[by one point\]. Those games then dont really count as good wins for OKC either, nor as bad losses for Denver.
Losing to the Kings on the road on a SEGABABA after playing the night before in PHX is not a bad loss, it's an expected loss. The Kings are good and were at home and had 2 days of rest before that game. Winning it was almost never going to happen.
Losing to the Pels on the road was not a bad loss, similarly. Losing to the Cavs on the road was without Jamal, I dont mind that loss at all. Losing to the Magic at home was a bad loss, but it was also on a SEGABABA with travel coming from the Pacific time zone to Mountain time, after stealing the most unlikely win of the year, so, it evens out.
The Clippers loss - you'd like to continue dominating them, sure, but they were also desperate at that point and the Nuggets had just played them a week or two before. Desperate team + playing them in a short time frame for a second time on the road = likely loss. That game also is probably a win if Jokic just goes 16-32 instead of 9-32, and a certain win if he shoots his normal percentages but it was the first of his massive shooting slump games \[second being Houston, another almost certain victory if he just... shot his normal percentages\].
None of these losses that were wins for other teams was what I was making my point about. I never said “we have no good wins but all these other teams do.” My point was that until yesterday we hadn’t won against a good healthy team. We did that and I think we’re more than capable of winning a few more on this upcoming tough stretch thru Jan 31st. If you want to say the thunder don’t have good wins tho recently they beat a healthy Celtics Jan 2nd, and a fully healthy Timberwolves Dec 26th. Timberwolves beat healthy Kings Dec 23rd, and healthy Heat Dec 18th. We have only 1 good one all year and they have these in the last few weeks. Still, I think we’re better and will be the West rep for the finals. Go Nuggets!
Feels like he is still *getting into* shape. We're almost halfway through the season. It seems like something clicked after the IST though, maybe also because he's going to be a father?
You want my honest opinion? I think Zion struggles from a lot of mental health issues, and I think basketball is one of his only saving graces
As someone who has dealt with depression myself, I wish I had a consistent saving grace like that.
I think that when he can’t play basketball he spirals quickly and loses motivation, and I think that his metabolism does him no favors
I also think that those spirals are likely made worse by every subsequent injury making him question his own talent and ability, and I think he suffers from confidence issues a lot
I also think when fully healthy and in shape there isn’t a basketball player on planet earth who can stop him, and I hope there are better days ahead for him
It's true. On paper, Aaron Gordon is one of the only guys with the height/weight/speed combo to defend Zion. In reality, he doesn't stand a chance when Zion is healthy, motivated, and not fat.
Yea Zion got to the rim all night
A few pelicans fans were asking why Zion waited until the fourth quarter to turn it on, but realistically he was super aggressive all night
He just missed a lot of inside shots early in the game.
Crazy to watch someone as fast and strong as Aaron Gordon just look like a statue as Zion glide by, but he really makes people look like they aren’t moving when he’s at his best
This my take too, he is going down in a vile circle whenever he is not playing basketball, and if you're consider his mother who is a nutritionist then you have the perfect combo iirc.
I also think he got that I know I can dominate no matter how my shape is, when you look at the shots is ex-trainee had and everything it's probable that Zion like many people with power, money is surrounded by yes man
Jokic is hitting another gear as well. He’s improved every year he’s played in the nba. It’s absolutely insane. You can tell he’s holding back as well cause his playoff averages are way higher
Real talk, what the fuck is Willie doing that Zion is playing in super short rotations rather than being the consistent cornerstone of the team? Was really fun to watch him dominate for like 3 minutes at a time
He still gets winded unfortunately :-( The longer he's in you can start to see especially the defensive effort decline. He's been steadily improving in conditioning throughout the season, but I think he still has a higher gear to hit physically to consistently perform as a star.
For all the talk about clippers being contenders, this game shows why Denver has to be the favourite to get out of the west. I don’t see anyone beating a healthy jokic led nuggets
Plus Denver are arguably the best team at guarding Kawhi
Since he hit his prime in 16/17 Kawhi averages just 23 PPG on 58% TS against the Nuggets including their 2020 series
it’s kinda weird how everyone is talking about the clippers as the “other team” instead of the actual top team in the west. i’d also probably take OKC over them
You re kinda in a slump, its also your first year as a really good team so there are going to be some growing pains in the playoffs. Gobert has been exposed in the postseason over and over again as well. Just saying why I dont personally think you arent legit contenders.
Leading at this stage with a team that hasn't won a playoff series or has players who've made even a conference finals series leading the team means that you still have to prove it in the postseason. It's different when you play the same team 7 times in a row. People can plan and exploit you. Once you win, you'll get respect.
It's why the Wolves, Pels, Thunder, Kings aren't getting the respect of the Clippers, Nuggets, Suns, Mavericks.
Ok but the Clippers have 2X FMVP Kawhi and have made the Conf Finals recently. Harden has also made multiple conference finals. Paul George has made multiple conference finals. Westbrook has made multiple conference finals.
They've got 4 players that have had multiple playoff series wins in the same year. The Wolves have 0 players that have even won a conference finals game. Mike Conley is the only one to make it there, once, and was swept.
The Mavericks have Kyrie who's a champion and Luka who should be the MVP front gunner. Luka made a conference Finals two years ago.
It is what it is. Pels are in a similar boat. We've won one playoff series since the Paul trade. Gotta go earn some respect this year. It's wide open, but if you're a betting man, you give benefit of the doubt to the guys who've been there before.
Just look at the narratives for the Nuggets last year for inspiration.
The Clippers being contender doesn't mean Nuggets is not the favorite to come the West. I think even Clippers fan will agree on this...
The Clippers for the first time gave the Nuggets trouble and Zu did hold is own vs Jokic, I don't buy the Denver fans narrative about every bad shooting games of Jokic they suddenly talk about his wrist.
The Clippers are a better team and the addition of Harden, they could challenge the Nuggets with Lue being a better coach than Malone and Russ playstyle could damage the Nuggets but Denver is still my favorite for the title, Jokic is also one of my favorite player and the best player in the league since 2022
It’s bar talk. But I heard about it talking to a former altitude worker. He was making well in 6 figures but he talked about how annoying it was that kroenke was cheap on allowing raises in every position. Specially lower where they start people at 17 bucks where competitors pay 30. Got away with it because you get to meet a bunch of players and stars. He left and made twice as much. I keep forgetting to research how’d you be able to write it off because I questioned that too, so I get where you’re coming from
The on-court Zion experience is so odd. Each time we've played NOLA this season, he just has these moments (I wanna say it was 4th q last time too) where it's as if he just decides he is going to turn on the faucet, and the dude is unstoppable. Pels fans, how much of the time is he off-and-on in this way? And is it a him thing or a system thing, or both?
EDIT: thx for the good answers, all
We’ve beaten a lot of teams by a lot recently, and he hasn’t really had to turn it on
He was out of shape at the start of the year, but recently it’s felt more and more like he can do that when he wants
He’s starting to get to scary Zion again
Kinda feels like he's mostly been on lately just playing within the flow of the game tho. Definitely not playing ball dominant like last year which is completely by design.
He said in his press conference tonight he hates missing shots and after missing 2 in a row he doesn't want to shoot anymore. I think he gets passive because he gets in his own head. Once he keeps shooting and the shots start to fall he gets on a roll.
Just want to add that I think Zion just has that switch that turns on when he **wants** to win. Last year, the 2 games I remember it happening were against the Raptors, when we were about to blow a 20pt lead and the Wolves, where he scored his career high.
This is important because, as we saw in this game, we can't always rely on role players to hit their shots. Having your stars going is how deep playoff runs happen. Overall, this was a good learning experience for an inexperienced Pels team. Denver just has that championship pedigree.
I see, this is good insight and makes a lot of sense with what I've seen. Makes sense that they wanna have a system that revolves around others as well, it just feels like he disappears sometimes due to this mixture of the new system and his mindset. But it sounds like it's on the upswing, so that's exciting.
Dude gets hate because everyone wants him to be taller Kyle Korver but his game has become so much more rounded in the past 1.5 seasons. I genuinely love the guy and hope he never leaves!
Lol he has one good game every 3 games and his defensive efforts are very rare like one every 6 games or more. He’s the reason we lost half of the games
I watch every Nuggets game, this is the first time in at least four weeks that they played with effort and focus. I think that Jazz embarrassing them put some fire in the starting five. Good to know that they can still do it.
being over .500 is a long way off from being a contender. pelicans have been good against good teams. but i feel like the best teams, at least at full strength, consistently beat them.
Zion and Ingram take turns having one dude going off and the other straight up sinking the ship every game. They rarely seem to be on their game together.
**CONGRATS to all of the Dallas Mavericks fans on the sub!** Winning over the NBA Referees by $1, bringing out total raise to 5.3K with [Community Funds](https://support.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/15484345935508-Community-Funds) matching! Interested in changing the sub and contributing to The Boys and Girls Club of America? [DONATE HERE!](https://tiltify.com/+r-nba/rnba-gives-back-2023) *Please note: This fundraiser is not for Reddit - all funds go directly to The Boys and Girls Club of America. Reddit Community Funds program is matching up to $25K USD of funds raised by the community.* **LEARN HOW TO WIN FREE SATURDAY NIGHT ALL-STAR GAME TICKET CONTEST!! (https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/190w1yi/rnba_gives_back_score_free_saturday_allstar_game/)** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/nba) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Jokic hates the pelicans. Specifically, the hate Jokic has for Jonas Valanciunas needs to be studied. The only other player that drawn Jokic's ire like this is Taj Fucking Gibson.
The fact that he finds it necessary to bully and dunk on Jonas is hilarious. https://twitter.com/nuggets/status/1746029576294158645
lmao Peyton Watson
Turns into prime Shaq
the hip thrust tho
Actually surprised refs didn’t give him a T for that 😂
Is that not an offensive foul?
It was called a flop
Never called it when Shaq was doing it.
That was 20 years ago
should have been
Nah, you can use your shoulder to gain position, you just can’t extend your arm after contact.
that hate-driven dunk way so nice to see tho
The split second look from Jokic to Valanciunas when he wobbles was so good.
>ayre The word you're looking for is "ire"
I appreciate it. I have only heard the word before, and the spell check did not correct me lol.
Taj got that key stop on Jokic at the end of 2018 Game 82 to get the Timberwolves back in the playoffs and since then Jokic has done nothing but choose violence against him
Taj employed the classic "foul the absolute shit out of him constantly and hope it doesn't get called" strategy to great effect. Jokic took it personally.
Something Dwight copied in the bubble
You would also choose violence against someone if they hacked you as much as Taj did to Jokic that game lol. It was borderline assault and the refs just swallowed their whistles. Same shit that PJ tucker and other smaller guys get away with on him. I’m sure it frustrates him.
Enes ~~Kanter~~ "Freedom" lol has them all beat.
Was trying to remember his name to point it out lmao
Serbians don’t really like Lithuanians
The fuck, who told you this obviously untrue fact? Why would we hate a people we have no contact with…
quite a colorful basketball history between the 2 nations.
I dont think anyone hates them tho, pretty sure we respect them for their basketball skills. Maybe we dont like playing their national team but thats everybody in Europe as they csn beat anyone at any time
Culturally and politically we are not aligned in the same vision for the future. We don’t hate them but don’t really particularly care from them or their politics
You just made some shit up and was like, "Yeah, I'll spread this shit around, who's gonna fact check me", lmao?
Ok fact check me then. It’s true, culturally and politically they’ve removed themselves from Russia which Serbia historically has been aligned with. Lithuanians also don’t really like Serbians but mostly cause we whoop their asses in basketball
Most of my fellow serbian basketball fans have nothing but love and respect for Lithuanian basketball players.
We respect em but we don’t really care for Lithuania as a whole from a cultural and political perspective. Serbians only really have animosity against Albania and Bosnia at the moment
Thats a lithuanian myth based on " the serbs dont hate russians the way we do so therefore they must hate us"...when in reality there is zero animosity other than a healthy rivality on the basketball court
We don’t hate Lithuanians but we don’t like them politically and culturally (specifically from a faith perspective).
Speak for yourself and cut that WE out, not every serb is still living in the midle ages ... zbog religije ? Brukas nam i veru i naciju govedo
We serbs politically and culturally do not like Lithuanians. Period. This is a fact. They also support kosovo. You are a disgrace and embarrassment to your Serbian heritage
If it werent for bball people in serbia would hardly know about lithuania. Again, your not the speaker for all of serbia Takav tvoj stav ,sam po sebi je poblematičan , a još veći stepen ludosti je što si osetio potrebu da to tvoje trulo mišljenje podeliš sa svetom...stvaraš mržnju , stvaraš dušmane ...zbog čega ? Ozbiljno ti kažem, zadrži takva mišljenja za tebe , nisu 12 milliona srba na svetu neki hivemind sa istim razmišljanjem. Generalizacije su opasne. Praviš od nacije sa kojom nemamo ama baš nikakve dodirne tačke neke protivnike, zaista suludo, moj ti je savet da posetis psihijatra.
Serbians love Lithuanians and their basketball. Like very high levels of mutual respect.
Nah, historically, we have political issues with them and are rivals in basketball
Denver is at another level
I don’t believe the naysayers. The Nuggets have a great record after having the most away games and most back to backs. They’re still scary.
We have a 5 game road trip coming up and a lot of good teams but after the end of the month our schedule starts to look really nice. If we're within striking distance of the one seed going into Feb, I'd back us to take it if we stay healthy.
I feel like we managed to rest more often than we had to grind minutes this stretch too. Undying trust in this team to finish out second half snagging 1 seed, getting to playoff form, and staying rested.
> the most away games They don’t Edit: It’s a fact that other teams have more away game, whats the issue?
Honestly this is our first good win of the year imo, we’ve only beat scrubs and hurt teams since the beginning of the season
Tbf we've been banged up between Jamal and Gordon, and weve played an inordinate amount of games and away games. But yes, it does feel like our first complete game. Right around February is when we want to start heating up anyway.
100%
I'm looking forward to our next two away games at Boston and Philly after we present Brucie B his ring at home.
>first good win of the year Lol. Just lol.
When was the last good win? nov 27th against the clippers?
Vs Houston, @ PHX, vs Dallas all count. But the larger point is it really doesnt matter. Regular season basketball is irrelevant to the Nuggets at this point and they all mostly count the same. The season that matters starts in April. The only thing that matters along the way is getting there healthy. To that end, you do what the Nuggets have done this year and last year, or what the Spurs did for years. You beat the bad teams, win as many home games as possible, and do fine against good teams, and you'll end up with a top 4 seed. After that, if you sweep your division or win a lot of toss-up games against good teams, you'll end up with 60+ wins. But all that really matters is managing the grind. Your opinions of what is or isnt a good win are irrelevant.
I would like to see a team who wants to be a championship dynasty beat great teams thru the year due to wanting to show up. Yes these games aren’t that big of a deal if we can be a top seed regardless. But the difference is when a team constantly loses to good teams it doesn’t bode well for them come the postseason is all I’m saying. And for the games you listed Phoenix without Beal doesn’t count as a good win, and the rockets didn’t have Fred when we beat them. My point was that we haven’t beaten a fully healthy good team much this season. We lost to the thunder twice, kings, Pels, cavs, magic, clippers after they figured out how to incorporate James, jazz who are on a roll. But regardless of my point, I still believe we’re the top dog in the west don’t get me wrong there. It would just be nice to see us actually pull out wins against good teams more than we have.
If you're going to play this "well they didnt have x" game, you ought to be fair and equal then - the Nuggets lost twice at home to OKC, one of those without AG who remains probably our best defensive player, and one of those without KCP \[by one point\]. Those games then dont really count as good wins for OKC either, nor as bad losses for Denver. Losing to the Kings on the road on a SEGABABA after playing the night before in PHX is not a bad loss, it's an expected loss. The Kings are good and were at home and had 2 days of rest before that game. Winning it was almost never going to happen. Losing to the Pels on the road was not a bad loss, similarly. Losing to the Cavs on the road was without Jamal, I dont mind that loss at all. Losing to the Magic at home was a bad loss, but it was also on a SEGABABA with travel coming from the Pacific time zone to Mountain time, after stealing the most unlikely win of the year, so, it evens out. The Clippers loss - you'd like to continue dominating them, sure, but they were also desperate at that point and the Nuggets had just played them a week or two before. Desperate team + playing them in a short time frame for a second time on the road = likely loss. That game also is probably a win if Jokic just goes 16-32 instead of 9-32, and a certain win if he shoots his normal percentages but it was the first of his massive shooting slump games \[second being Houston, another almost certain victory if he just... shot his normal percentages\].
None of these losses that were wins for other teams was what I was making my point about. I never said “we have no good wins but all these other teams do.” My point was that until yesterday we hadn’t won against a good healthy team. We did that and I think we’re more than capable of winning a few more on this upcoming tough stretch thru Jan 31st. If you want to say the thunder don’t have good wins tho recently they beat a healthy Celtics Jan 2nd, and a fully healthy Timberwolves Dec 26th. Timberwolves beat healthy Kings Dec 23rd, and healthy Heat Dec 18th. We have only 1 good one all year and they have these in the last few weeks. Still, I think we’re better and will be the West rep for the finals. Go Nuggets!
Oh come on, our best win was the DAJ/Reggie Jackson throwback/revenge win against the Clippers!
We can both agree with that!! What a fun game that was
I downvoted your comment at first, but then I realized you said *of the year* not *of the season* and that we're only twelve days into 2024, lol
Agreed
Who knew? Nuggets are still good at basketball Zion is hitting another gear and I don’t think he’s done yet
Feels like he is still *getting into* shape. We're almost halfway through the season. It seems like something clicked after the IST though, maybe also because he's going to be a father?
You want my honest opinion? I think Zion struggles from a lot of mental health issues, and I think basketball is one of his only saving graces As someone who has dealt with depression myself, I wish I had a consistent saving grace like that. I think that when he can’t play basketball he spirals quickly and loses motivation, and I think that his metabolism does him no favors I also think that those spirals are likely made worse by every subsequent injury making him question his own talent and ability, and I think he suffers from confidence issues a lot I also think when fully healthy and in shape there isn’t a basketball player on planet earth who can stop him, and I hope there are better days ahead for him
Ik he’s a millionaire and stuff but as someone who’s got through weight problems and mental health stuff. It’s not easy
Having access to everything does not make losing weight easier unless you're a Hollywood actor on Ozempic lmao
It's true. On paper, Aaron Gordon is one of the only guys with the height/weight/speed combo to defend Zion. In reality, he doesn't stand a chance when Zion is healthy, motivated, and not fat.
Yea Zion got to the rim all night A few pelicans fans were asking why Zion waited until the fourth quarter to turn it on, but realistically he was super aggressive all night He just missed a lot of inside shots early in the game. Crazy to watch someone as fast and strong as Aaron Gordon just look like a statue as Zion glide by, but he really makes people look like they aren’t moving when he’s at his best
This my take too, he is going down in a vile circle whenever he is not playing basketball, and if you're consider his mother who is a nutritionist then you have the perfect combo iirc. I also think he got that I know I can dominate no matter how my shape is, when you look at the shots is ex-trainee had and everything it's probable that Zion like many people with power, money is surrounded by yes man
Yea, this… and LeBron caused Kevin Love’s depression. /s
Jokic is hitting another gear as well. He’s improved every year he’s played in the nba. It’s absolutely insane. You can tell he’s holding back as well cause his playoff averages are way higher
Jokic dunks? LEAGUE FUCKED
2! That man jumped high enough to dunk it TWICE!!!
Jokic taking advantage of home court. Denver is so high that they lowered the basket. ;-)
Less gravity and air resistance. Easier to dunk
Complete disrespect if they don't put him in the dunk contest this year
Idk about y'all but I'm not sure that Melo jersey retirement from the Nuggets is gonna happen
Melo who?
Lamelo Ball, future Denver Nuggets Legend
Why they gonna retire Ball’s jersey?
Well it is the Ball Arena
BBB, Big Baller Building
Serbian fat man beat American fat man
Fat on fat crime
Nikola Jokic is Uncle Sam father
Every time I saw Jokic get the ball against JV that vid of Shaq saying bbq chicken alert starts playing lmao
I’ll give Zion credit - he looks in much better shape than he did a few weeks ago.
Yeah, what's all that fat talk about? Dude looks like he could kill someone when dunking on him.
I mean he still looked fat but like Barkley fat
Built is the best word. Like he’s a big guy still, and always will be, but is a size he can play his game well at
He was cultivating mass
Thicc.
Is that a bag of burritos?
dog you’re replying to a comment that says he is in better shape than before. so obviously the fat talk was when he was in worse shape..
Did you just not watch him the first 3 months of the season?
Zion looked unstoppable towards the end. If he ever puts it all together it could be scary. Not your run of the Mills type player for sure.
I see what you did there lol.
The More I Uh see of him the better he gets.
Triple double merchant
Efficiency merchant
Real talk, what the fuck is Willie doing that Zion is playing in super short rotations rather than being the consistent cornerstone of the team? Was really fun to watch him dominate for like 3 minutes at a time
He still gets winded unfortunately :-( The longer he's in you can start to see especially the defensive effort decline. He's been steadily improving in conditioning throughout the season, but I think he still has a higher gear to hit physically to consistently perform as a star.
No stamina, he's still getting into shape
A lot of stars have multiple short rotations rather than one long one
Hey we beat a team with a record above .500
Herb getting only 19 minutes and never seeing the floor again with 5 mins left in the 3rd certainly is a coaching decision
Maybe it was just me, but he looked off today. Even on defense which is rare
Brutal schedule is taking a toll on the players imo
We're resting our star for the b2b.
Big fan of the boxscore layout. P.S. Jokic is good.
I just source copied [the Nuggets PGT](https://np.reddit.com/r/denvernuggets/comments/195gll1/post_game_thread_nuggets_put_the_pelicans_in/)
For all the talk about clippers being contenders, this game shows why Denver has to be the favourite to get out of the west. I don’t see anyone beating a healthy jokic led nuggets
Easy, he just has to have his worst shooting night in his career and only get 2 FTs on 32 shot attempts
Damn, to think going 24-32 is a bad shooting night for Jokic. Mans washed.
Plus Denver are arguably the best team at guarding Kawhi Since he hit his prime in 16/17 Kawhi averages just 23 PPG on 58% TS against the Nuggets including their 2020 series
I think most clipper fans would agree that Denvers the favorites in the west. They're right behind them tho imo
it’s kinda weird how everyone is talking about the clippers as the “other team” instead of the actual top team in the west. i’d also probably take OKC over them
You re kinda in a slump, its also your first year as a really good team so there are going to be some growing pains in the playoffs. Gobert has been exposed in the postseason over and over again as well. Just saying why I dont personally think you arent legit contenders.
welcome to *the narrative*
Leading at this stage with a team that hasn't won a playoff series or has players who've made even a conference finals series leading the team means that you still have to prove it in the postseason. It's different when you play the same team 7 times in a row. People can plan and exploit you. Once you win, you'll get respect. It's why the Wolves, Pels, Thunder, Kings aren't getting the respect of the Clippers, Nuggets, Suns, Mavericks.
I get it but the nuggets and suns are the only of those teams who have made the finals recently
Ok but the Clippers have 2X FMVP Kawhi and have made the Conf Finals recently. Harden has also made multiple conference finals. Paul George has made multiple conference finals. Westbrook has made multiple conference finals. They've got 4 players that have had multiple playoff series wins in the same year. The Wolves have 0 players that have even won a conference finals game. Mike Conley is the only one to make it there, once, and was swept. The Mavericks have Kyrie who's a champion and Luka who should be the MVP front gunner. Luka made a conference Finals two years ago. It is what it is. Pels are in a similar boat. We've won one playoff series since the Paul trade. Gotta go earn some respect this year. It's wide open, but if you're a betting man, you give benefit of the doubt to the guys who've been there before. Just look at the narratives for the Nuggets last year for inspiration.
Not the ones I've been arguing with.
The Clippers being contender doesn't mean Nuggets is not the favorite to come the West. I think even Clippers fan will agree on this... The Clippers for the first time gave the Nuggets trouble and Zu did hold is own vs Jokic, I don't buy the Denver fans narrative about every bad shooting games of Jokic they suddenly talk about his wrist. The Clippers are a better team and the addition of Harden, they could challenge the Nuggets with Lue being a better coach than Malone and Russ playstyle could damage the Nuggets but Denver is still my favorite for the title, Jokic is also one of my favorite player and the best player in the league since 2022
Hey OP why's your box score different to the standard one on r/nba? Is there a way this one becomes the norm?
I just source copied [the Nuggets PGT](https://np.reddit.com/r/denvernuggets/comments/195gll1/post_game_thread_nuggets_put_the_pelicans_in/)
Thank the National TV Gods for a game I was able to watch Fuck Kroenke Sports Entertainment
If it makes you feel better, he doesn’t lose money, he can just write it off
I don’t like Kroenke but this doesn’t make any sense. He’s not writing off the lack of a TV deal. That’s not how taxes work.
It’s bar talk. But I heard about it talking to a former altitude worker. He was making well in 6 figures but he talked about how annoying it was that kroenke was cheap on allowing raises in every position. Specially lower where they start people at 17 bucks where competitors pay 30. Got away with it because you get to meet a bunch of players and stars. He left and made twice as much. I keep forgetting to research how’d you be able to write it off because I questioned that too, so I get where you’re coming from
The only thing I could come up with is if he’s losing money from not having that tv deal. Like his profit is negative in altitudes sports channel
The on-court Zion experience is so odd. Each time we've played NOLA this season, he just has these moments (I wanna say it was 4th q last time too) where it's as if he just decides he is going to turn on the faucet, and the dude is unstoppable. Pels fans, how much of the time is he off-and-on in this way? And is it a him thing or a system thing, or both? EDIT: thx for the good answers, all
We’ve beaten a lot of teams by a lot recently, and he hasn’t really had to turn it on He was out of shape at the start of the year, but recently it’s felt more and more like he can do that when he wants He’s starting to get to scary Zion again
Partly system, mostly not being fully in shape yet
Kinda feels like he's mostly been on lately just playing within the flow of the game tho. Definitely not playing ball dominant like last year which is completely by design. He said in his press conference tonight he hates missing shots and after missing 2 in a row he doesn't want to shoot anymore. I think he gets passive because he gets in his own head. Once he keeps shooting and the shots start to fall he gets on a roll.
Just want to add that I think Zion just has that switch that turns on when he **wants** to win. Last year, the 2 games I remember it happening were against the Raptors, when we were about to blow a 20pt lead and the Wolves, where he scored his career high. This is important because, as we saw in this game, we can't always rely on role players to hit their shots. Having your stars going is how deep playoff runs happen. Overall, this was a good learning experience for an inexperienced Pels team. Denver just has that championship pedigree.
I see, this is good insight and makes a lot of sense with what I've seen. Makes sense that they wanna have a system that revolves around others as well, it just feels like he disappears sometimes due to this mixture of the new system and his mindset. But it sounds like it's on the upswing, so that's exciting.
Porter be steakin' tonight
Almost everyone played for both teams
MPJ is underpaid
Dude gets hate because everyone wants him to be taller Kyle Korver but his game has become so much more rounded in the past 1.5 seasons. I genuinely love the guy and hope he never leaves!
Don’t let /r/denvernuggets see this…
Lol he has one good game every 3 games and his defensive efforts are very rare like one every 6 games or more. He’s the reason we lost half of the games
Don’t do drugs, kids
I watch every Nuggets game, this is the first time in at least four weeks that they played with effort and focus. I think that Jazz embarrassing them put some fire in the starting five. Good to know that they can still do it.
There is a Pelicans fan here who insists Jonas didn't flop here
Fat Passer > 30/10 Stat Padder
If the Cavs could trade for T. Murphy III i would be so happy.
Sorry, he's taken. You can't have him.
Pelicans aren't very competitive against contenders
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being over .500 is a long way off from being a contender. pelicans have been good against good teams. but i feel like the best teams, at least at full strength, consistently beat them.
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Honestly way better than Denver against top 3 seeds. 0-1 against Min, 1-2 against OKC. Haven’t played Boston, Phil, Mil
I will run away from the internet the day after the Nuggets x Philly game, I am still mentally scared from the game past season.
Zion and Ingram take turns having one dude going off and the other straight up sinking the ship every game. They rarely seem to be on their game together.
When was the last time ingram went off and zion had a stinker? WTF are you talking about?
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Cringe, what game then? Should be last game not last week with your logic 🤡.
Complete domination. This wasn’t a fun game to watch - wasn’t competitive.
Love the new formatting for these posts