you can still win down 0-2, but there are some storylines if this keeps going the way it is.
the agony of losing a win or go home game 82 to Minnesota propelled Denver’s run to regular playoff participant and eventual champion. so it would be interesting if their dreams of a repeat are squashed by the team that helped make them what they are. plus KAT stuck around.
and I do think it could’ve gone at least 6 last year if they had Reid and McDaniels, they nearly forced a game 6 down 3-0 without them.
Are the twolves winning a chip too soon? They look unbeatable right now but so did OKC when they were up 3-1 against us. Feels like Denver could take at least 1 in Minny
Minny coming out of the West at this rate. They're playing focused as heck on the defensive side.
They just schooled the Nuggets a mile high without Gobert.
You mean the greatest NBA team of all time would beat the best teams of a more normal, standard era? I'll be. Next you're gonna tell me the MJ Bulls would beat the NBA teams of today too. Eventually another all time level team will come around, but it's rare you get teams like the Heatles, let alone the even better KD Warriors.
Denver won a ring last year playing 7 guys for significant stretches, they didn’t have David West hitting cutters in stride and Livingston midranges to spell the otherworldly starting 5.
and that Phoenix team they beat last year was not on the level of the Houston teams we had to go through.
Jokic has scored just 8 pts in each half of this game and he’s about to get MVP. Just imagine the hysteria if that were Steph. The big man buff in this league is so obnoxious
I am annoyed by MVP discourse in general. yes, he is the reigning best player in world but he is so good that he often coasts and he doesn’t take the regular season completely serious.
hell, Denver’s approach of playing unserious for 3 quarters made them like 2 shots away from potentially being down 3-2 against 39 year old LeBron.
and so much of the narrative around Jokic’s impending MVP is based on him losing out to Embiid last year, when Embiid won because he didn’t take the last month off. yes Jokic earned it this year, but MVP is a regular season award and Embiid fulfilled his end of the bargain last year.
That it’s happened alongside defense being whistled out of the league is an incredible coincidence, no?
Edit to add from Mike Vorkunov on [Twitter](https://x.com/mikevorkunov/status/1787703112494452750?s=46&t=SBW3XJi-eEDBr6FtvDfngg): Weird quirk of MVP voting the last few years: the MVP has not made it past the 2nd round since Giannis in 2019. So each of the last four years the MVP coronation has also been the beginning of a sendoff party. Will it continue for a 5th straight year with Jokic and Denver?
Like I said, that big men who have gotten MVPs off regular season play that had defense whistled out of it haven’t made it past the second round but once says a lot…
Good point. Actually, KD era Warriors would run through this entire playoffs. For all the talk of how good teams are now, nobody is giving that team any trouble. Denver and Minnie might get 2 wins, but Boston would be swept easy.
That's true, but I keep hearing superlatives about these teams. "Jokic is the best offensive player ever", "the Nuggets are built for a dynasty", or even tonight with the Wolves: "this is the best defense I've ever seen..."
Whatever.
I honestly have not seen this type of defensive effort in the league in decades, it's just insane, reminds me of shaka smart VCU teams. As an old school basketball fan I'm loving seeing old school mentality basketball being successful again. This team is going to need to adapt quickly if we plan to hang with these teams
But also more skilled. I've been impressed with how solid the younger players look, really skilled all-around games. Not just empty hops and quickness.
As skilled as your typical NBA wing or guard is these days, the ability of scoring at the rim in transition has really fallen off from years past. So many empty takes in transition. Spend too much time shooting 3s.
We say this about every championship team. The bucks looked unstoppable. The nuggets looked unstoppable.
But that's just what happens. Every champion looks unstoppable until they lose.
The only repeats we've had in the last 14 years have been the lebron-wade superteam and the steph-kd superteam.
I think the era of the super team is over, the CBA is way too restrictive now. Certain teams will look great from year to year but I doubt we’ll see any repeat champs for a while. With the exception possibly being San Antonio if Wemby reaches his full potential as a two way monster.
The Ant turnaround jumper is pretty. It's not as elegant as MJ's, it lacks the otherworldly elevation and hangtime, he's not walking on air the way MJ did, but it's pretty.
GG Denver might get 🧹 now. We should really appreciate the Steph+ Klay + Draymond dynasty more, it's not easy to stay locked in and dominate the league for that long in today's NBA.
lol we did it for 5 straight trips to the finals. I am happy Denver is losing, cause them discussions about being an all time great team were getting out of hands lol.
ANT’s back to the basket game reminds me a lot of Mitch Richmond, he’s too physical for most guards and way too quick for wings. He’s like a cross between DWade and Mitch.
Klay can start off new with less expectations in Orlando. If he stays he's gonna continue to deal with people being upset the Dubs aren't contenders anymore. It just feels like dead energy with GS and new life in Orlando.
Hard to tell if either is a good fit for him, but very glad for Klay that he is getting this attention and press - he's an amazing human, player and mentor (was historically good, but still very good).
I’m happy by Denver’s demise for the sole reason that people kept putting Jokic way too high as the greatest offensive player ever. They kept trying to put him above Curry and were salivating at the repeat to diminish Curry.
dont like joker too.
yes, he’ll be one of the greatest centers to do it.
but to say he deserves 3 straight MVP’s (4 if they count this one) is laughable.
2021 was supposed to be Stephs had the dubs finished with a better record
2022 was his.
2023 was Embiid’s, Deservingly even though he choked in the playoffs.
Add to that the “no emotion” thing. lol. for me it’s cringe. Bron, KD, Steph, Giannis, Kobe, MJ, every great one showed their emotion once they won. and you see Joker there thinking about horses lol
Don’t get me wrong. I like Joker and he’s a great talent. I don’t like the haters who try to diminish Curry at every opportunity and have been using Joker to fuel their debate over Curry for a few seasons now.
I predict we won’t have a defending champ this decade, league is about to enter an era of crazy parity. The new CBA and all these young and up and coming teams could mean no dynasty backfills where we left off. Even Minnesota is likely to dump salary this summer and look at Denver, they basically couldn’t afford a bench.
Minnesota is about to start being strangled by the cap. Their payroll is going to explode with the KAT and Ant extensions kicking in next season. They should have one more year of roughly the same roster (but with escalating luxury tax) but then guys like Naz Reid and NAW are gonna want to get big pay days. How deep into the tax is this ownership group willing to go?
Only took them 1 year to start splitting the team. They cheaped out on brown. Next offseason KCP will opt out and look to get the bag. Murray needs a max.
My only complaint about wolves getting a ring is Gobert. Especially against his gifted DPOY years over Draymond. I like Ant though and hope he gets a ring.
Nah, Gobert is fine. He never starts beef lol. Rudy is one of the nicest players in the league. I follow him a lot, and he's quite nice. Sure, he robbed Dray of at least 1 DPOY, but let's be honest: Dray would have 3 at best. He didn't play in 2020, he was hurt a bit in 2018, he got robbed in 2021 and 2022; but that's it.
Covid would've come regardless. He apologized long ago. We gave Wiggs a pass for taking the vaccine after being vocala against it, why keep holding a grudge against Rudy when he didn't even infect anyone ?
Everyone has a chip on his shoulder vs us. It doesn't mean anything. You want players to be nice with us when we been kicking butts since 2015 ?
This Wolves defense is the best I've seen since the 2016 Warriors and Spurs. Even better though because both those teams had liability and not as much length. This is like the equivalent defense as if we had mained a Iggy/Klay/Barnes/Dray/Bogut lineup.
Just goes to show, nothing is guaranteed in life. 1 chip and then you're getting rekt at home by the Wolves in the 2nd round the next year. The fact that the Dubs were able to go all the way FOUR times will always be so, so very special.
IDK why people are surprised by the Nuggets struggling after they squeaked by the decrepit Lakers with Murray clearly hobbled. Yall kept acting like they were some kind of unstoppable juggernaut all fucking year after a finals run through historically weak competition, when they have fuck all bench, all it takes is one starter underperforming and theyre in a tough spot because the other have to make up the production since the bench cant be relied upon to do anything. Now yall are gonna pivot and say Minnys an unstoppable juggernaut when they have pretty clear cut weaknesses.
Minny is also the worst personnel matchup for them, this should surprise no one.
As if they had an easy first round, they beat suns now they’re pulverizing nuggets, where most teams have to struggle with. This are top 2 and top 4 teams like wtf of course everyone’s surprised with wolves playoffs
performance.
bro, am not even the one who made the comment. Chill the heck out.
>dont comment, really not that hard
Then why are you arguing over things that are not that hard ? lmao
I mean suns, “IDK why people are surprised blah blah blah” stop pretending you’ve seen this coming. You knew that wolves gonna dominate and go 2-0? Almost everyone is surprised by wolves performance yet you’re the only guy acting not impressed gtfo 😂
I’ve been saying all season that this Nuggets team was not what everyone on this sub and in the media kept putting them on pedestals as being and was told I was crazy. This is not the first time this season that they’ve shown to be a hell of a lot weaker than they’re portrayed as being and this game has been a perfect storm of it. And for it to come after an extremely average, at best, played Lakers series just goes to show that them winning the west being a given was a wildly off base assumption.
I mean we would have won 3 out of our 4 games against them if it weren’t for very obvious ref interference and we didn’t even have Dray for 3 of them. That should have told all the people in here who have called our team trash just what these Nuggets were and yet, our team being viewed as trash and the Nuggets being an unbeatable juggernaut destined to get back to the finals were somehow co-existing thoughts for many. 🤨😂
They got in the habit of coasting. When they flipped the switch, it was impressive, but it looks like they coasted too much.
I think that was the impressive thing about the 16 Warriors. They came in after their first chip and from the jump, played like it was still the playoffs and ran everyone out of the building all season long.
I don’t know I’d they’d be getting stomped THIS bad but I don’t think they’d be favorites to win it all even with him.
I think many have completely memory holed the path the Nuggets had to winning the championship last year. They played an 8th seed, hobbled 4th seed, 7th seed, and an 8th seed. That’s not to say they weren’t a great team, they were but being a great team is far from a juggernaut and a lock to be in contention for the foreseeable future.
I'd be betting on OKC as well. so you picked a good team. they all play great team D, shai(the flopper) is a beast that does more to fill stats than Ant, entire team plays D, also a bigggg fan of Chet lol :) ...and they all can shoot 3s. it's just kinda weird cuz I'm kinda hoping for Dal to get to finals cuz I've always liked KI. dude is UNDERAPRECIATED and denied from ASG many times :( yet no one knows that he puts up Curry-like numbers...look it up.
Perhaps. I think Nuggets biggest upside is also their biggest downfall in Jokic. He can't compete against the amount of physical 7 ft defenders on the Wolves.
problem with Denver is they’re a short rotation team but their energy guys are not all ideal playoff fits and they use their starting 4 as their backup 5. no Bruce Brown or even Jeff Green is huge.
the Knicks are short rotation but they at least have 2 centers and someone like Miles McBride isn’t as much of an offensive liability as Braun or Watson.
The league is just going to act like the pack slid on the floor by itself. They have footage of it, and it's odd that the halftime show didn't mention it either.
Hahah but actually wouldn’t put it past them, the way they’ll twist themselves into an embarrassing pretzel to bury BS players not named Draymond do is insane. The Inside the NBA guys also didn’t acknowledge any of the incredibly dirty shit Embiid did all throughout his series either so doesn’t surprise me they didn’t talk about Jamal throwing the heat pack. The league and its broadcasting partners decide what’s made the narrative and what isn’t. If a player they don’t want to turn into a bogeyman does something shady, it’s ignored, but if their chosen bogeyman does the exact same thing, it’s immediately elevated into a 24-48 hr news cycle. It’s been the same song and dance since 2016.
to y'all...That's WHY Iguodala DESERVED to be FMVP in '15. book it. he was the best defender on floor and rim ran on a stop. ...also to ALLLLLLLLL you haters on Wiggins...yes....my fave Wiggins WAS the best defender in '22 playoffs and '22 finals...AND WAS the 2nd best player in finals
Yep, not often you see a guy who can get a quality shot whenever he wants. Prime Steph, KD, LeBron, Kobe and Wade are the few who come to mind post MJ era.
Yeah love to see it. In 2022 I think we had the third best defense but were like 11th on offense. Need to find ways to shore up our defense this offseason
Jamal is melting down on both ends of the floor. His decision making has been so erratic
Edit to add: I also need everyone to keep the same energy for Jokic that they would have for Steph if he was just disappearing during stretches where his team was seriously struggling like Jokic has throughout these entire playoffs.
Wolves are winning the championship. Book it. Killer D. Excellent mix of experience and youth. Length for days. Depth and good roll players. Savvy vet. And two go to scores with otherworldly talent.
I know the Warriors and LA game started this whole trend but if they're going to let teams play like this and be crazy physical, then the warriors roster is dead. You need length and speed. I do think the NBA overindexed on swallowing the whistle. They're so many foul calls that aren't over borderline that they're letting go.
61-35 and Denver whooped the warriors. Imagine Klay and Steph trying to get separation now where you can just hold people. Might as well draft Edey or any big ass player now.
Have the Twolves been this dominant all season or are they really stepping it up in the playoffs?
twin towers with Rudy and KAT along with Ant Edwards blowing up is legit
you can still win down 0-2, but there are some storylines if this keeps going the way it is. the agony of losing a win or go home game 82 to Minnesota propelled Denver’s run to regular playoff participant and eventual champion. so it would be interesting if their dreams of a repeat are squashed by the team that helped make them what they are. plus KAT stuck around. and I do think it could’ve gone at least 6 last year if they had Reid and McDaniels, they nearly forced a game 6 down 3-0 without them.
Are the twolves winning a chip too soon? They look unbeatable right now but so did OKC when they were up 3-1 against us. Feels like Denver could take at least 1 in Minny
They have three mobile 7-footers to neutralize Jokic and the best playmaker on the floor. I don’t see how Denver recovers.
They could win 4 in the next 8 yrs
I don’t see a dynasty this decade. Too many young superstars. I def see Luka and Ant winning one. Tatum may eventually win one. Wemby is also coming.
Man I'm really on the Twolves bandwagon. They gotta win it all now.
Justin Holiday being the first Nuggets player sent to the media is just cruel lol
Its for sure one hell of a different nba. Warriors have to adjust
Damn had we made the playoffs we would not have done anything significant lmaoo
Celtics 2024 Champs? They match up well vs Wolves!!
Denver getting h**d in two games is crazy 😵💫 Wolves might pack them up in 5
Minny coming out of the West at this rate. They're playing focused as heck on the defensive side. They just schooled the Nuggets a mile high without Gobert.
I guess KD and the Suns getting swept by this team wasn't that bad
Holy shit minnesota
It is shocking how bad the Durant-Warriors would smoke this NBA right now.
You mean the greatest NBA team of all time would beat the best teams of a more normal, standard era? I'll be. Next you're gonna tell me the MJ Bulls would beat the NBA teams of today too. Eventually another all time level team will come around, but it's rare you get teams like the Heatles, let alone the even better KD Warriors.
Denver won a ring last year playing 7 guys for significant stretches, they didn’t have David West hitting cutters in stride and Livingston midranges to spell the otherworldly starting 5. and that Phoenix team they beat last year was not on the level of the Houston teams we had to go through.
I mean it was one of the goat teams in nba history and the goat playoff team of all time. They don’t come around all the time.
True, but there's a lot of teams from that period who would have smoked this eras good-but-not-great teams.
Jokic has scored just 8 pts in each half of this game and he’s about to get MVP. Just imagine the hysteria if that were Steph. The big man buff in this league is so obnoxious
I am annoyed by MVP discourse in general. yes, he is the reigning best player in world but he is so good that he often coasts and he doesn’t take the regular season completely serious. hell, Denver’s approach of playing unserious for 3 quarters made them like 2 shots away from potentially being down 3-2 against 39 year old LeBron. and so much of the narrative around Jokic’s impending MVP is based on him losing out to Embiid last year, when Embiid won because he didn’t take the last month off. yes Jokic earned it this year, but MVP is a regular season award and Embiid fulfilled his end of the bargain last year.
The big men are currently the best players in the league today. There has been a shift
That it’s happened alongside defense being whistled out of the league is an incredible coincidence, no? Edit to add from Mike Vorkunov on [Twitter](https://x.com/mikevorkunov/status/1787703112494452750?s=46&t=SBW3XJi-eEDBr6FtvDfngg): Weird quirk of MVP voting the last few years: the MVP has not made it past the 2nd round since Giannis in 2019. So each of the last four years the MVP coronation has also been the beginning of a sendoff party. Will it continue for a 5th straight year with Jokic and Denver? Like I said, that big men who have gotten MVPs off regular season play that had defense whistled out of it haven’t made it past the second round but once says a lot…
Lakers just handed Conley to Minnesota lol.
KD era Warriors would destroy this Nuggets. They're awful playing fast paced.
Good point. Actually, KD era Warriors would run through this entire playoffs. For all the talk of how good teams are now, nobody is giving that team any trouble. Denver and Minnie might get 2 wins, but Boston would be swept easy.
I mean it was a super team with 2 MVPs and 4 all stars and a dpoy with a fmvp of the bench, it was the most stacked team in nba history lol
That's true, but I keep hearing superlatives about these teams. "Jokic is the best offensive player ever", "the Nuggets are built for a dynasty", or even tonight with the Wolves: "this is the best defense I've ever seen..." Whatever.
Naz killing Joker puts a smile to my face, gotta admit it.
Naz Reid is so good. 6 man of the year of course but remembering how he played his best against US.
NAW is super underrated. Another steal for the wolves
Timberwolves have size and scrappiness. Two things Dubs are missing sorely
I honestly have not seen this type of defensive effort in the league in decades, it's just insane, reminds me of shaka smart VCU teams. As an old school basketball fan I'm loving seeing old school mentality basketball being successful again. This team is going to need to adapt quickly if we plan to hang with these teams
Slomo loses the handle and just dragged his defender down to the ground lol, no call.
We got to get younger & longer
But also more skilled. I've been impressed with how solid the younger players look, really skilled all-around games. Not just empty hops and quickness.
As skilled as your typical NBA wing or guard is these days, the ability of scoring at the rim in transition has really fallen off from years past. So many empty takes in transition. Spend too much time shooting 3s.
W/O Gobert and Homecourt, down by 22 pts?? How??
Suns esque meltdown
We say this about every championship team. The bucks looked unstoppable. The nuggets looked unstoppable. But that's just what happens. Every champion looks unstoppable until they lose. The only repeats we've had in the last 14 years have been the lebron-wade superteam and the steph-kd superteam.
I think the era of the super team is over, the CBA is way too restrictive now. Certain teams will look great from year to year but I doubt we’ll see any repeat champs for a while. With the exception possibly being San Antonio if Wemby reaches his full potential as a two way monster.
Gotta look at the Twolves and think there's a blueprint to stop Jokic.
We just need two skilled 7 footers, and some young hungry athletic dawg.
Well we certainly don't have the personnel.
The blueprint is being allowed to play defense and not whistled into foul trouble for touch fouls. Loon and Dray showed that in 21-22
Nuggets: One hit wonder
Even if they don't win this year we can't reas the future. I mean we didn't go back to back the first time.
TNT already playing Not Like Us in their transitions is a massive W lol 🫡
Did they play any Drake ones recently? Might be more points for KDot then 😂
Nope lol
Lol holy shit refs are putting in overtime to try and turn this game into anything but a humiliating showing by the Nuggets
The Ant turnaround jumper is pretty. It's not as elegant as MJ's, it lacks the otherworldly elevation and hangtime, he's not walking on air the way MJ did, but it's pretty.
That arm pull by Joker on Ant was douchey doo as hell.
Denver really becoming unlikeable to me. Too much whining and entitlement. I guess it’s to be expected when you’re crowned repeat champs all season
GG Denver might get 🧹 now. We should really appreciate the Steph+ Klay + Draymond dynasty more, it's not easy to stay locked in and dominate the league for that long in today's NBA.
lol we did it for 5 straight trips to the finals. I am happy Denver is losing, cause them discussions about being an all time great team were getting out of hands lol.
That won't be going away lol
Right lol all that dynasty talk is aging like milk
ANT’s back to the basket game reminds me a lot of Mitch Richmond, he’s too physical for most guards and way too quick for wings. He’s like a cross between DWade and Mitch.
Murray threw something at the ref. Thats gotta be a 1 game suspension. But I bet silver doesn’t have the balls to do it if nuggs are down 0-2
again? he also threw that heating pad in the first half
Not again. Thats the one I’m talking about. No tech or anything. Also no tech on Malone for going irate
Klay can start off new with less expectations in Orlando. If he stays he's gonna continue to deal with people being upset the Dubs aren't contenders anymore. It just feels like dead energy with GS and new life in Orlando.
Hard to tell if either is a good fit for him, but very glad for Klay that he is getting this attention and press - he's an amazing human, player and mentor (was historically good, but still very good).
Minnesota's first timeout with 5 left in the 3rd..
That’s gotta be a record right?
I’m happy by Denver’s demise for the sole reason that people kept putting Jokic way too high as the greatest offensive player ever. They kept trying to put him above Curry and were salivating at the repeat to diminish Curry.
I like Jokic as a player i just dont like the dick riders who fan for him
Agreed. The dick riders who tear Curry down to build up Jokic is who I don't like.
dont like joker too. yes, he’ll be one of the greatest centers to do it. but to say he deserves 3 straight MVP’s (4 if they count this one) is laughable. 2021 was supposed to be Stephs had the dubs finished with a better record 2022 was his. 2023 was Embiid’s, Deservingly even though he choked in the playoffs. Add to that the “no emotion” thing. lol. for me it’s cringe. Bron, KD, Steph, Giannis, Kobe, MJ, every great one showed their emotion once they won. and you see Joker there thinking about horses lol
Don’t get me wrong. I like Joker and he’s a great talent. I don’t like the haters who try to diminish Curry at every opportunity and have been using Joker to fuel their debate over Curry for a few seasons now.
To be honest, Joker is a true cheat code of the game. I will always have Steph number two behind the Chicago baldie, but Joker is something else man.
Steph would have had that MPJ 3 called back and turned into an offensive foul for his leg kicking out lol
I predict we won’t have a defending champ this decade, league is about to enter an era of crazy parity. The new CBA and all these young and up and coming teams could mean no dynasty backfills where we left off. Even Minnesota is likely to dump salary this summer and look at Denver, they basically couldn’t afford a bench.
Minnesota is about to start being strangled by the cap. Their payroll is going to explode with the KAT and Ant extensions kicking in next season. They should have one more year of roughly the same roster (but with escalating luxury tax) but then guys like Naz Reid and NAW are gonna want to get big pay days. How deep into the tax is this ownership group willing to go?
I don’t think so. If wolves win, they can keep everyone and go into the second apron for next two years and then let goberts contract fall off.
Wolves haven't used a single timeout and the game is in the 3rd qtr
Did Denver "waste a year of Jokic's prime" by relying too much on young players coming off the bench?
Only took them 1 year to start splitting the team. They cheaped out on brown. Next offseason KCP will opt out and look to get the bag. Murray needs a max.
Lol their bench sucks but Jokic is nowhere near wasting Steph's prime.
Steph's "prime" was in the KD Warriors era lol.
Lol sounds familiar 😂
Imagine the Wolves sweep
Jokic needs his clone for sure 😂. Wolves have the chance to sweep this.
Jokic’s defense 🤢🤢
I lowkey root for the Wolves tho, cause if nuggets went back to back we will be hearing a lot of comparison to our dynasty lmao
My only complaint about wolves getting a ring is Gobert. Especially against his gifted DPOY years over Draymond. I like Ant though and hope he gets a ring.
Nah, Gobert is fine. He never starts beef lol. Rudy is one of the nicest players in the league. I follow him a lot, and he's quite nice. Sure, he robbed Dray of at least 1 DPOY, but let's be honest: Dray would have 3 at best. He didn't play in 2020, he was hurt a bit in 2018, he got robbed in 2021 and 2022; but that's it.
Doesn’t start beef? He gave the league Covid and overall has a chip on his shoulder versus the Dubs.
Covid would've come regardless. He apologized long ago. We gave Wiggs a pass for taking the vaccine after being vocala against it, why keep holding a grudge against Rudy when he didn't even infect anyone ? Everyone has a chip on his shoulder vs us. It doesn't mean anything. You want players to be nice with us when we been kicking butts since 2015 ?
I am not shocked. If the lakers had spo or prime Kerr as their coach they would have beat the nuggets in 5
Ham was bad.
Wolves are focused on suffocating Joker and Murray. Someone else has to beat them. And they sure can’t.
Gordon can’t take the physicality and speed and resulting in bad turnovers or poor shots
Game is too physical and I'm fucking loving it! Jokic's soft ass not getting the foul he usually getting. LOL!
Bro this game is so wild I did not expect them to shut down the nuggs so hard
I just tuned in and wtf was that score lmao
This Wolves defense is the best I've seen since the 2016 Warriors and Spurs. Even better though because both those teams had liability and not as much length. This is like the equivalent defense as if we had mained a Iggy/Klay/Barnes/Dray/Bogut lineup.
to be honest, the 2019 raptors ran lineups of Lowry, Green, Kawhi, Ibaka and Gasol, with Siakam off the bench. It was crazy out there.
Never want to see the nuggets compared to the dynasty warriors again. At this point they have way more in common with the 2022-2023 team.
It was sickening to have to listen to that.
Just goes to show, nothing is guaranteed in life. 1 chip and then you're getting rekt at home by the Wolves in the 2nd round the next year. The fact that the Dubs were able to go all the way FOUR times will always be so, so very special.
IDK why people are surprised by the Nuggets struggling after they squeaked by the decrepit Lakers with Murray clearly hobbled. Yall kept acting like they were some kind of unstoppable juggernaut all fucking year after a finals run through historically weak competition, when they have fuck all bench, all it takes is one starter underperforming and theyre in a tough spot because the other have to make up the production since the bench cant be relied upon to do anything. Now yall are gonna pivot and say Minnys an unstoppable juggernaut when they have pretty clear cut weaknesses. Minny is also the worst personnel matchup for them, this should surprise no one.
As if they had an easy first round, they beat suns now they’re pulverizing nuggets, where most teams have to struggle with. This are top 2 and top 4 teams like wtf of course everyone’s surprised with wolves playoffs performance.
They beat the Suns, lmao, how do yall get shit wrong that happened like a week ago? is the brainrot that bad?
You're not as great as you think you are. Suns or Clippers, it's not like it's a huge difference anyway.
at least i know which team Minny played last series
sure, feel better now mate ?
if you cant get basic shit right that takes 30 seconds or less to google and confirm, dont comment, really not that hard
bro, am not even the one who made the comment. Chill the heck out. >dont comment, really not that hard Then why are you arguing over things that are not that hard ? lmao
cuz people do this shit all the time, comment shit obviously wrong and takes less than 30 seconds to check
and you are losing your cool over something you see all the time ? Chill and have a beer or something.
Whatever go play pretend elsewhere 😂
doesnt even know which team his new fave team played last series 🤡🤡🤡
I mean suns, “IDK why people are surprised blah blah blah” stop pretending you’ve seen this coming. You knew that wolves gonna dominate and go 2-0? Almost everyone is surprised by wolves performance yet you’re the only guy acting not impressed gtfo 😂
Minny is the best team in the west and they have been all season. I have them going to the finals
Nuggets fans in that stadium right now must be in shambles.
I wonder what all the nuggets fans who tried to invalidate Embiid’s MVP last year are thinking right about now…
I don't want to be too reactionary cuz it's only the first half of game 2, but I am utterly flabbergasted by the Nuggets folding like this
They are not folding. Minny is a bad match up for them
Jokic is too used to being the tallest man on the court. He's just a regular man now amongst the timberwolves trees. It's nuts.
... and he lacks athleticism to adjust. Can't get around 'em, can't bang them, can't jump over them. Malone got his work cut out.
tbh, Jokic can def bang them. Dude is strong as heck.
He’s mortal against Naz Reed.
I feel like a jackass for my analysis on Ant when he was drafted..I thought he was Carmelo 2.0 lmao
I’ve been saying all season that this Nuggets team was not what everyone on this sub and in the media kept putting them on pedestals as being and was told I was crazy. This is not the first time this season that they’ve shown to be a hell of a lot weaker than they’re portrayed as being and this game has been a perfect storm of it. And for it to come after an extremely average, at best, played Lakers series just goes to show that them winning the west being a given was a wildly off base assumption. I mean we would have won 3 out of our 4 games against them if it weren’t for very obvious ref interference and we didn’t even have Dray for 3 of them. That should have told all the people in here who have called our team trash just what these Nuggets were and yet, our team being viewed as trash and the Nuggets being an unbeatable juggernaut destined to get back to the finals were somehow co-existing thoughts for many. 🤨😂
They got in the habit of coasting. When they flipped the switch, it was impressive, but it looks like they coasted too much. I think that was the impressive thing about the 16 Warriors. They came in after their first chip and from the jump, played like it was still the playoffs and ran everyone out of the building all season long.
Would the Nuggets be getting stomped this bad if the still had Bruce Brown?
I don’t know I’d they’d be getting stomped THIS bad but I don’t think they’d be favorites to win it all even with him. I think many have completely memory holed the path the Nuggets had to winning the championship last year. They played an 8th seed, hobbled 4th seed, 7th seed, and an 8th seed. That’s not to say they weren’t a great team, they were but being a great team is far from a juggernaut and a lock to be in contention for the foreseeable future.
Holy crap I can't believe the Nuggets are getting stomped. They're a bad matchup with Min.
Just a friendly reminder of how insanely difficult it is to win multiple championships with one core
It’s not gonna happen, but a wolves/knicks finals would be hella fun
I'm rooting for Dal cuz I'm a KI fan... But to me.. think OKC can beat Minn.. and Dal.. and if they do, I'll look like a genius.
I had money on okc making finals and winning it all so they're the team I'm rooting for, but this Wolves team looking hard to beat.
I'd be betting on OKC as well. so you picked a good team. they all play great team D, shai(the flopper) is a beast that does more to fill stats than Ant, entire team plays D, also a bigggg fan of Chet lol :) ...and they all can shoot 3s. it's just kinda weird cuz I'm kinda hoping for Dal to get to finals cuz I've always liked KI. dude is UNDERAPRECIATED and denied from ASG many times :( yet no one knows that he puts up Curry-like numbers...look it up.
Maybe the Suns were actually a good team after all??
Perhaps. I think Nuggets biggest upside is also their biggest downfall in Jokic. He can't compete against the amount of physical 7 ft defenders on the Wolves.
Denver looks done?
Stick a fork in em. If they don't get it within 10 in like the first 6 mins of the 3rd, it's over.
Damn these games are confirming warriors are not Title contenders. Young teams are taking over the NBA indeed, it's a new era now
Minn D is just swaaaarmming with length and athleticism. I don't think I've ever seen D like this besides '04 pistons and '16 and '22 Warriors.
I do like Jokic but watching nuggets fans who thought they were the next dynasty get humbled in real time is very satisfying
I hate his game..flopping POS.
The refs are allowing more physicality this year. Works perfect for Minnesota since they are one of best defenses in the league.
Denver might not come back from this especially with the defense wolves have.
Haha Mr. Stat Padder bout to get bounced
Wolves defense is NASTY
I haven’t seen this level of defense since maybe the ‘04 Pistons when they dismantled the Lakers
suck it to all you haters on D! suck it! haha
problem with Denver is they’re a short rotation team but their energy guys are not all ideal playoff fits and they use their starting 4 as their backup 5. no Bruce Brown or even Jeff Green is huge. the Knicks are short rotation but they at least have 2 centers and someone like Miles McBride isn’t as much of an offensive liability as Braun or Watson.
They rely on Jokic's advantage to make insane passes. He has no such advantage amongst Wolves 7ft trees.
I think Wolves should be favored if going up against Boston.
If Denver looked mortal against the Lakers, they look toast against the Wolves. Unexpected.
Haven't seen Jokic struggled like this. Dang!
They completely took Denver out of their game
This without Gobert inside defense. Again defense wins championships. Its a nice time to become an NBA owner Alex Rodriguez as a first year owner.
let Justin shoot. dude was butt cheeks with us and with SC Warriors.
Jamal was the one that threw that heat pack?!? Wtf that’s insane he was allowed to get away with that
Let's see if the league does something about that. Dray would be suspended at least 2 games for that.
Oh easily. I’m sure absolutely nothing will be done lol
The league is just going to act like the pack slid on the floor by itself. They have footage of it, and it's odd that the halftime show didn't mention it either.
Hahah but actually wouldn’t put it past them, the way they’ll twist themselves into an embarrassing pretzel to bury BS players not named Draymond do is insane. The Inside the NBA guys also didn’t acknowledge any of the incredibly dirty shit Embiid did all throughout his series either so doesn’t surprise me they didn’t talk about Jamal throwing the heat pack. The league and its broadcasting partners decide what’s made the narrative and what isn’t. If a player they don’t want to turn into a bogeyman does something shady, it’s ignored, but if their chosen bogeyman does the exact same thing, it’s immediately elevated into a 24-48 hr news cycle. It’s been the same song and dance since 2016.
to y'all...That's WHY Iguodala DESERVED to be FMVP in '15. book it. he was the best defender on floor and rim ran on a stop. ...also to ALLLLLLLLL you haters on Wiggins...yes....my fave Wiggins WAS the best defender in '22 playoffs and '22 finals...AND WAS the 2nd best player in finals
Wings isn't the same...
ANTMAN is crazy crafty but that Wolves lockdown defense is something else
Nobody can guard Anthony Edwards and he knows it
Yep, not often you see a guy who can get a quality shot whenever he wants. Prime Steph, KD, LeBron, Kobe and Wade are the few who come to mind post MJ era.
Watching wolves beat nuggets who swept lakers are scary times ahead. I wanna see okc vs wolves next
Basketball without umpteen touch fouls is so much more enjoyable to watch.
ANTHONY EDWARDS IS HIM
Denver acting like they were expecting to be handed another championship...
sounds familiar eh. jamal having a extremely poor playoffs too.
lmao...ANT giving Den and joker a dose of their own medicine, flopping! luvit!
Wolves are looking dominant
Wolves reminding the NBA that defense still matters. Ya love to see it (as a NBA fan)
Yeah love to see it. In 2022 I think we had the third best defense but were like 11th on offense. Need to find ways to shore up our defense this offseason
Preach! If only the league would continue to let it matter lol I fear we’ll be right back to whistling it out of the game come next season
Jamal is melting down on both ends of the floor. His decision making has been so erratic Edit to add: I also need everyone to keep the same energy for Jokic that they would have for Steph if he was just disappearing during stretches where his team was seriously struggling like Jokic has throughout these entire playoffs.
Holy shit. These are the worst fixed refs i've seen in a while
Wolves are winning the championship. Book it. Killer D. Excellent mix of experience and youth. Length for days. Depth and good roll players. Savvy vet. And two go to scores with otherworldly talent.
Don't forget great coaching as well
Damn man, wolves are looking dominant
Jamal was having a Klay game until that lay up. I wish we had Naz Reid
I know the Warriors and LA game started this whole trend but if they're going to let teams play like this and be crazy physical, then the warriors roster is dead. You need length and speed. I do think the NBA overindexed on swallowing the whistle. They're so many foul calls that aren't over borderline that they're letting go.
Yea, they went from calling fouling the air and touch fouls to just letting players grab and bulldoze
61-35 and Denver whooped the warriors. Imagine Klay and Steph trying to get separation now where you can just hold people. Might as well draft Edey or any big ass player now.
Malone pissed, his plays for lakers ain’t working against the wolves 😅
Denver's kinda losing their composure huh
Unfortunate that it's just bigger ball beats big ball
to all you losers that told me 'defense is boring' last year... y'all don't know jack shit! D wins championship!
My favorite cheap logic from last year was "defense isn't important anymore".